


Rascals III

by roeskva



Series: The Rascals Series [3]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Drama, Gen, Humor, Kid Fic, Tok'ra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2012-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-20 00:23:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 38,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/579254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roeskva/pseuds/roeskva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Rascals and Rascals II. The continued adventures of Sam, Martouf, Lantash, Freya, Anise, and Daniel, after they have been turned into children.</p><p>SPOILERS: Up to early/mid season 10 of SG-1, or there about.</p><p>PAIRINGS: This is gen, but there are a few minor mentions of various pairings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> NOTES: Mostly as canon, except all the Tok'ra are just fine! I got inspired by the Star Trek: TNG episode 'Rascals' to write the first installment, and I just found I had more ideas for the story! Some OOC'ness and a little cracky at times.
> 
> NOTES 2: You do NOT need to read Rascals I and II first. All you need to know is that Sam, Martouf, Lantash, Daniel, Freya, and Anise were transformed into little children by an alien device. They now live at Stargate Command, and O'Neill, Teal'c, and sometimes Janet, are looking after them.
> 
> NOTES 3: Meant as Christmas/advent calendar, so there will be 24 'doors'/chapters (we celebrate Christmas on the 24th of December in Scandinavia).

 

* * *

January 2005

"Thank you for coming to play with us!" Freya said, happily throwing her arms around Cassandra.

"Yes, thank you _so_ much!" Sam, Daniel, and Martouf exclaimed, running to hug Cassandra as well.

"Yeah, well. I didn't have _much_ else to do," Cassandra said, then smiled fondly at the children. She _did_ like them, and it was not _their_ fault Janet had been called away.

"Oh, and will you make hot cho-colate, Cassandra?" Freya looked up at her, while making her best puppy eyes. " _Please_?"

Cassandra grinned, not surprised by the request. "I suppose that can be arranged... so, do you guys want to help me make that hot chocolate - _and_ bake a cake? You know, the yummy chocolate cake, which Janet usually makes?"

* * *

Janet had been looking after the kids while O'Neill and SG-1 had gone on an important mission. An _extremely_ important mission, to try and rid the Galaxy of the escalating Replicator plague.

Since O'Neill was now a General, and in command of the SGC, a replacement had been found for SG-1. Teal'c was now the only 'original' member left of SG-1, with the other members being the Tok'ra Soltof/Gimbad, Hailey - and currently also Colonel Sanderson. The latter was a recent addition which O'Neill still did not feel sure about, and who was still only in a temporary position.

O'Neill and the others had returned a short time earlier. They had been successful and had managed to kill off the Replicators. Anubis seemed to have disappeared as well, though no one knew where he had gone. They would just have to hope he was gone for good.

Jacob and Selmak had joined the mission some time before, and they, together with the Goa'uld _Ba_ _'_ _al_ \- had succeeded in reprogramming an Ancient weapon at Dakara, so it killed all the Replicators.

However, something was not well with Jacob and Selmak, and Janet had been called in to look at him, since she was not only the Chief Medical Officer of the base, but also host to the Tok'ra healer Rhiva. Hopefully, they would be able to figure out what was wrong with Jacob/Selmak, and cure them.

Janet had called Cassandra a short time ago, telling her to come and look after the children, while she went back to the base. She was _not_ to tell the kids anything about what had happened, other than that the mission had been a success.

Cassandra had been on her way out the door, to go out and have fun with some of her friends, whom she went to college with, so she had not been too happy. She had agreed, though. She liked the children, and no longer felt it weird that the Sam and Daniel she had known, were now little kids.

After spending the whole afternoon with the children in Janet's house, Cassandra drove them back to the base. The threat from the Trust was considered minimal right now, but it was still safest for them to stay at the base most of the time.

"Promise you'll come back soon?" Sam pleaded, when they had all eaten dinner in the mess hall, and Cassandra was on her way to leave.

"Sure, honey, I promise," Cassandra said, smiling at her.

"Then maybe we can build a fortress together out of LEGO, and we can show you how fast we can run on roller skates, and, and we have a _new_ _cartoon_ we got from Jack!" Daniel exclaimed, eagerly.

"Oh, and I have drawn a picture for you - and Lantash have made one too!" Martouf told her.

"Are you _sure_ you have to leave already? Perhaps you can stay a _little_ longer?" Anise looked hopeful.

"Sorry." Cassandra smiled, apologetically. "I really _have_ to go. I have something important to do tonight, but I promise to come see you soon. Now, go to your room and play, okay?"

* * *

O'Neill sighed as he quietly walked into the room where the children were playing, stopping just inside the door. They all looked so happy, and he did not want to tell them - and Sam in particular - what he had come to say.

He spent a few moments looking at them. They had built some sort of large fortification out of LEGO, and seemed to be completely occupied with setting up a large number of small figures, who appeared to be attacking the fortification. They were so focused on what they were doing, that it took several minutes before any of them noticed he was there.

Martouf looked up, and directly at him, then smiled widely. "O'Neill! You must come see this!" He pointed eagerly at the construction.

Sam, Daniel, and Anise looked up as well, spotting O'Neill. They all smiled happily, and greeted him.

"Wow, that really does look nice. What's it supposed to be?" O'Neill asked.

"It's the attack on Dakara - when the Free Jaffa took it from Ba'al," Anise told him. "We heard about it - but only a little."

"Yes, can you tell us more? How did it go?" Daniel asked, eagerly.

O'Neill sighed deeply. "The Jaffa _did_ take Dakara, but... well, a lot of other stuff happened to."

Teal'c stepped through the door at that point, bowing his head in greeting. "Hello."

"Teal'c!" Sam exclaimed. "You can tell us all that happened, right?"

"Indeed. There is much to tell. It was a great battle - much more so than anticipated." He looked at O'Neill.

"However, there's something you need to know first. Carter, we didn't tell you before, but your dad was there with us - and I don't think we'd have made it without him."

Seeing the change in his mood, Sam became very concerned. "Did something happen to him?"

"Is Jacob all right?" Martouf asked, worried.

"He wasn't wounded, but... Selmak's not feeling so good right now. The doctors are looking at her right now." He saw the children's terrified expressions. "Now, don't worry. You know how good Janet and Rhiva are. I'm sure they'll figure out what's wrong, and then fix it, in no time."

"I didn't think symbiotes _could_ get sick." Daniel looked worried, but sceptical.

"Symbiotes are _never_ sick!" Anise said with conviction.

"I agree," Lantash said, after having gotten control from Martouf. "If Selmak is indeed unwell, she must have been exposed to something horribly poisonous. You _must_ take us to her."

"How is my dad doing? I need to see my dad _now_!" Sam insisted.

"Listen, sweeties, Jacob and Selmak are in good hands. You know Janet and Rhiva would never let anything bad happen to them." O'Neill tried to reason.

"I want to see my dad! Now!" Sam stomped her foot. "I need to see him... I... what if he's dying, and...and..." she sniffled. "I _must_ go see him, _please_ _..._ " she started crying.

"You made Samantha cry!" Lantash said angrily at O'Neill, throwing his arms around Sam and hugging her.

"Bad Jack!" Daniel insisted, glaring at O'Neill and embracing Sam as well.

Anise hurriedly threw herself at the others, trying to hug them all.

O'Neill sighed and gave Teal'c a long-suffering expression.

* * *

Several hours later, Janet and Rhiva agreed to let the children visit Jacob for a short time.

While the children paid a very subdued and teary visit to Jacob, Janet/Rhiva took O'Neill and Teal'c aside and told them what they had learned.

They had made a large number of tests on Selmak, but had been unable to determine what was wrong with her. She was currently in a coma, and according to Jacob, she had been getting weaker for some time.

Rhiva and Janet had discussed what could be wrong with Selmak, as well as ways to try and treat her.

There was a number of treatments that could be used to strengthen a symbiote, temporarily increase its ability to heal, or help it filter out poison. There was also the healing device, but those were the only options usually used when treating symbiotes. They were immune to all known naturally occurring diseases, as well as to most poisons.

Rhiva had both scanned Selmak, and taken a blood sample. She had found no indication Selmak had been poisoned.

While Selmak was the oldest of the Tok'ra, she was not actually _old_. At just over 2000 years, she was actually still quite young for a symbiote. She was also the smallest adult symbiote Rhiva knew of, but examinations had been made of her previously, and her size meant nothing for her health or ability to heal either herself or her host.

In short, neither Janet, nor Rhiva, could find any reason why Selmak was sick, nor why she was still getting weaker, despite their attempts to strengthen her with Tok'ra drugs. It was a complete mystery, and very worrying.

* * *

"How can Selmak be sick?" Sam exclaimed. "Aren't you guys supposed to be able to cure _everything_?"

"We are," Lantash said. "Well, _almost_ ," he admitted.

"There are some poisons that are difficult," Anise agreed.

"Some the Goa'uld have made that way," Lantash added.

"We need to help dad and Selmak. If the adults don't know how, _we_ must fix this!" Sam insisted.

"We will think of something, Samantha," Lantash promised.

"So Jacob and Selmak could've been poisoned by a Goa'uld?" Daniel wondered.

"Maybe." Lantash frowned, trying to think of when it could have happened. " _Damn_ it's difficult to ac-cess some memories!" He looked angry.

"It's the same for all of us." Daniel looked despondent. "They say it will come back when we grow up."

"Yes, but I need to know _now_!" He pressed his hands together in fists.

"Who'd do it?" Daniel tried.

"Nirrti," Anise said with conviction. "She uses poisons."

"Or Sokar," Lantash suggested. " _Netu_! Jolinar was poisoned by Sokar."

Sam looked distant for a moment, trying to remember. "Yes... some really bad stuff. Something that made her weak, and heal badly. For _months_ , I think."

Lantash nodded. "I remember. Sokar used it to..." He knitted his brows as he tried to remember. "He used it to make symbiotes have a hard time healing their hosts - and themselves. During... tor-ture. To weaken them... make them talk."

"Like that nasty, uh, blood of Sokar thingie?" Daniel asked.

"No, while bad, that ones not deadly... and it filters out over weeks, at most." Lantash told him. "We exa-mined the effects. After Netu."

"Jolinar had gotten it. The weak... _ening_ drug, I mean. But she got well," Sam said.

"Yes... the effect of the drug, ah, _Sha_ _'_ _kek_... will slowly dis-appear. Over _years_. Even after it is no longer de- _tec_ _-_ table, it will affect the symbiote." He frowned. "There's a medicine to ease the effects. Jolinar got it... but so did Selmak. Because she was given the drug too."

Sam nodded slowly. "Yes, but there's something..." She stomped her foot, frustrated. "I _can_ _'_ _t_ remember! Jolinar... she knew something. About Selmak."

"Something im- _portant_?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, duh!" Sam stuck out her tongue at him. "Of _course_!"

"Jolinar once told me... that Selmak was poisoned as a child," Lantash said, slowly.

"Yes! That's it! Her Jaffa - and the other Jaffa in that unit - they were ex-posed to... to poison gas. Killed them all, except Selmak and her Jaffa." Sam frowned. "They were so sick for such a long time. They lived, but Selmak didn't get much bigger after that, even if she was only a few years at the time it happened."

"It stopped her _phy_ -sical de-velopment?" Anise asked, curious.

"Partially. Didn't affect her otherwise though," Sam said. "But she kept it secret."

"Maybe it made her more sus... sus- _ceptible_ to some drugs. Like the one Sokar used. _Sha_ _'_ _kek_ ," Lantash suggested.

"We need to tell Janet. Now!" Sam exclaimed.

They ran off to find Janet and Rhiva.

* * *

With the information that Selmak was possibly suffering from an increased reaction to _Sha_ _'_ _kek_ \- a drug administered to her by Sokar, several years ago - Janet and Rhiva attempted to treat her by giving her more of the Tok'ra medicine that was used to treat exposure to Sha'kek.

They could not detect the presence of it in her system, but now when they knew what to look for, they could see that the weakening Selmak was experiencing now, was similar - if much more pronounced - to what was seen after a heavy exposure to Sha'kek.

Some hours after treatment began, Selmak stopped deteriorating, and slowly began to recover. It was almost a day later, before she awoke from her coma, very surprised to be alive.

She had not realized her illness could have been caused by an aftereffect to Sha'kek - nor that she would be that much more susceptible to it than other symbiotes, since she had never noticed any difference between herself and other symbiotes, except for her smaller size.

Janet and Rhiva would be continuing to monitor Selmak regularly over the next couple of years, to see if she would need further treatment, but they did not think so.

When almost a week had passed, Janet/Rhiva finally agreed to discharge Jacob/Selmak from the infirmary. At that point they were going stir-crazy, and driving everyone else insane as well. Neither of them did well being locked up like that, especially since they felt they no longer needed to be in the infirmary.

The children were both extremely relieved and very proud they had been able to help, and insisted it was necessary to celebrate Selmak's recovery - with a large chocolate cake and plenty of lemonade.


	2. Chapter 2

The rest of the winter, and all of the spring passed slowly for the children. The Trust had been found to be infiltrated by the Goa'uld. That was not all - the Trust had also compromised both the US and Russian governments. Because of this, the children were not allowed to leave the base, for fear they would be captured and experimented on.

Slowly, the danger passed, and by the time Sam, Daniel, Martouf, and Freya turned 8 - and Lantash and Anise turned 4 - they were again allowed outside the base for shorter periods of time.

It was summer, and outside Stargate Command the weather was warm and pleasant. However, that was not where they were celebrating their birthday this time.

They had gone to the Tok'ra base where Jacob/Selmak were stationed. Aside from the children and most of the Tok'ra on that, SG-1 and SG-2 participated, as did Janet/Rhiva, O'Neill, Cassandra, and Hammond, who had managed to get the time off from his work at Homeworld Security. He was happy for the excuse to make a short trip offworld, as it was not something he often had the opportunity to do.

"Why can't Mark be here for my birthday?" Sam asked, pouting a little.

"You know why, Sammie." Jacob patted her shoulder. "It's offworld - and at an alien base, even."

"Mark knows about aliens - and it's not _really_ aliens, it's just Tok'ra."

Jacob grinned wryly. "I suspect Mark considers Tok'ra to be real aliens, at least the symbiotes. Anyway, the problem is not so much him, as it's the issue of explaining why _he_ can go visit you, but not his wife and kids."

"They haven't gotten clea-rance," Sam said, matter-of-factly. "Of course they can't go then. Maybe it's time they should get that?"

Jacob slowly shook his head. "Lisa is 10 and William is 12 - they're not old enough that you can tell them something like that and trust them not to speak of it to their friends. In a few years, perhaps."

"Daad! _Really_! I'm 8! I've known about aliens for _years_!" Sam exclaimed. "I've never told anything to any friends that didn't know!"

"You don't _have_ any friends who doesn't know! Many of them _are_ aliens!" Jacob sighed deeply. "Besides, you're hardly a typical 8 year old! You know much, much more."

"Does that mean I don't have to go to school anymore?" Sam asked, slyly.

"Nope, just that I hold you to higher standards, young lady! Now, let's go find the others. I'm sure the cook is ready to serve the birthday cake - you don't want the others to eat it all, do you?"

"No!" Sam sounded panicked. "Come, let's go, dad!" She pulled desperately on his hand, and they started to walk towards the Tok'ra mess hall - at a much too low speed for Sam's liking.

* * *

The cake was huge, since it was the intention that all the guests - including the 253 Tok'ra currently on the base - should be able to get a slice of it. Actually it was the biggest cake any of them had ever seen - with the exception of one building-sized cake Selmak had seen, which had been made for one of Ra's parties.

It was a chocolate cake, made with chocolate from the planet Cul'huacan - a world famous across the Milky Way for its fine chocolate. It was layered with vanilla cream and chopped nuts, topped with a layer of marzipan and decorated with whipped cream. It was divided into six sections, each with candles matching the number of years of one of the children. Given how large the cake was, the candles did not take up much space.

One at a time the children were allowed to stand on a chair and try to blow out their own section of candles, and no others. Since the cake was as big as it was, there was little risk of any of them being able to blow out more candles than they were supposed to.

Finally, Anise, as the last, had blown out her candles and hopped down from the chair. "That means we can have a slice of cake now, right?" she asked, eagerly.

* * *

"We've eaten our cake - can we have gifts now?" Daniel asked, hopefully.

"Soon." O'Neill smiled. "Actually, I think the Tok'ra have a surprise for you." He looked mysterious.

"Surprise?" Sam asked, eagerly.

"What kind of surprise?" Lantash wanted to know.

"Is it candy?" Freya asked.

"No - it's a treasure hunt. For your birthday gifts," Jacob said, smiling.

"A treasure hunt?" Sam looked interested.

"Treasure hunt!" Martouf repeated, sounding excited.

"Awesome!" Daniel started jumping up and down.

"What is a treasure hunt?" Freya asked.

"You follow clues to find a treasure," Daniel explained. "My parents did one for me when I was little. In Egypt! In a tomb!"

"Well, we don't have a tomb for you to explore, but Daniel is correct. You do indeed follow clues that will lead you to your gifts. _If_ you do it correctly," Malek said.

"Do we get to dress up? I was dressed up as a pha-raoh when I did this with my parents!" Daniel informed them, excitedly.

"We do have many costumes for use when we go undercover, but regrettably, I fear none of them will fit you," Aldwin told them.

"The pharaohs were either Goa'uld or Goa'uld followers, dressing up in Goa'uld style. Why would you want to dress like them?" Lantash said, having gotten control from Martouf.

"I can put the correct make-up on you if you want, Daniel," Freya suggested.

"Don't you want to get started on the treasure hunt, so you can get your gifts?" O'Neill asked, seeing that Daniel was considering Freya's suggestion. He did not feel like cleaning make-up off from everywhere, and he was certain the children would somehow get it smeared out over their clothes, at least.

"Yes, we want to begin now," Lantash confirmed. "How do we do this, pre- _cisely_?"

* * *

"Hah, I know what this means," Sam exclaimed, reading the first clue. "It says ' _Beside_ _the_ _warm_ _rocks_ _,_ _near_ _the_ _big_ _water_ _._ ' That must be those rocks near the o-asis, topside! Where we found all those animals last year!"

"Um, I'm not sure... aren't we forbidden to use the ring transporter?" Lantash said.

"Ob-viously not anymore!" Daniel insisted. "It says so right there on that paper. Come, let's go find the rings!"

"Maybe it means something else?" Freya suggested.

Lantash nodded. "Yes, those warm rocks could be the heating stones in the large com-munal spa. They're right beside the largest pool."

"Well, let's try that first, then," Sam said.

"I'll get there first!" Daniel exclaimed, beginning to run as fast as he could, fairly certain he could remember the right way.

The others took off after him, while the adults watched them from the other end of the room, and smiled at their enthusiasm. Making a treasure hunt seemed to have been a good idea.

* * *

The next note had indeed been located near the large, communal spa, and the children had found the next clue - and a piece of a map, which they were to save and eventually put together with the rest of the pieces, to show them where the 'treasure' was.

"Where to?" Daniel wondered.

"The Council chamber - I think," Lantash said, hoping he had interpreted the clue correct.

"Come on, then!" Sam urged.

They hurried off.


	3. Chapter 3

Fifteen clues later, they were only missing one, before they had an entire map.

"Perhaps we can guess it without the last piece?" Daniel suggested, after they had all tried - and failed - to figure out where they were supposed to look for the last part of the puzzle.

"No... there's several parts of the tunnels which would match, I think," Martouf said, thoughtfully.

"Okay, let's look at the clue again, then." Sam sighed. "It says, ' _All have visited, one has claimed it - others merely borrow. Behind your friends it hides.'_ What could that mean?"

"I don't have a clue." Daniel shook his head.

"We _do_ have a clue, just no idea what it means," Freya pointed out.

"Yeah, you _know_ what I mean!" Daniel rolled his eyes dramatically.

Freya looked like she was getting angry, then suddenly she closed her eyes in the long blink she and Anise used when switching control.

"They are talking about my la-boratory," Anise told them. "We have all been there, and some other sci-en-tists think it is theirs to use as they please." She looked somewhat offended.

"It does say the others 'merely borrow'," Sam soothed.

"It's behind the tank with our pets!" Martouf realized.

"Yes! They're our _friends_ , of course!" Sam said.

"Of course!" Daniel smiled widely. "My lizard 'Hammond', and the snake 'Janet' and her little snakelets."

"Which are getting bigger. We forgot to visit them! They must be heart-broken!" Sam looked horrified. "Come, _quickly_!"

They ran as fast as they could - both to find the next clue, but mostly to check on the animals they had caught in the desert, another time when they had visited the Tok'ra tunnels. Jacob and several of the other Tok'ra had been unhappy with them for going outside alone without telling anyone, and for capturing wild animals which might have been dangerous. Eventually, however, the animals had been allowed to stay as the children's pets.

* * *

After spending some time talking to - and petting - the animals, who bore it all with indifference, the children remembered the treasure hunt and started searching around the terrariums that held their pets. It did not take long for them to find the last piece of the map.

They sat or crouched down on the floor around the map, to look at it.

"Those cor-ridors, they're near the kitchen. Look!" Martouf pointed eagerly at the map, almost pushing the pieces away from each other. "And here... _here's_ the mark of the treasure!"

"In the kitchen. To the right of... whatever that room is," Sam said, indicating the place on the map.

"It's a stasis chamber. A big one, for foods that may go bad," Martouf explained.

"Okay - let's get to the kitchen!" Daniel jumped up and pulled at first one, then another of his friends. "Our gifts are waiting for us! Come _on_!"

* * *

"What did you get?" Sam asked, trying to lean close enough to see what was in the box Martouf had just opened.

"A remote-controlled Tau'ri car." Martouf looked happy.

" _Nice_!" Sam said, with an envious expression. "I got a box with com- _ponents_ to build various stuff. Battery-operated things and stuff."

"May I try to build something?" Martouf wanted to know, looking as envious as Sam had a moment ago.

"Yes, if I can try the car."

"Sure." Martouf grabbed his next package, and started unwrapping it.

"I got a new video-game from Jack. For our Playstation!" Daniel told them. "And some more LEGO! The LEGO is from Teal'c."

"What about you, Anise?" Sam asked, as she opened one of the packages for her.

"I have just started opening my first gift, so I do not know. Freya got a sweater from Janet, a scarf from Rhiva, and a new diary from Jack. She has not opened any other packages yet."

"Wheee!" Sam exclaimed happily. "I've got some of those small remote-controlled metal-insects Ren'al and Sova had built. You know, the listening de-vices we found last year!"

"That you _stole_ from my laboratory last year," Ren'al corrected, walking into the kitchen together with a large group of other adults. "Sova thought we should make a few for you, now when they are no longer proto-types, since you seemed to like playing with them. They are for _all_ of you, by the way."

Sam looked at the box. "Oops. yes, it has all our names on it." She grinned, sheepishly.

"I see you found the treasure," O'Neill observed, smiling.

"We did. The gifts are _awesome_!" Daniel jumped up and ran to O'Neill, hugging him. "Thank you so much!"

Sam, Martouf/Lantash, and Freya/Anise got up and went to hug O'Neill and the other adults as well, thanking them for the gifts, before running back to open the rest of the packages and playing with all their new toys.

* * *

When all the gifts were unwrapped, and the children had spent some time playing with the toys, Aldwin, Malek, Zarin, and Garshaw took them to the largest Tok'ra pool, where they played a Tok'ra game, that resembled water polo.

Garshaw and Yosuuf were happy for the excuse to play with the children. They had originally been transformed into children with the others, by the same alien device, but the Tok'ra scientists had managed to reprogram the device to partially grow Yosuuf and Garshaw into adults. The device had short-circuited before the process was complete, though, and they were now teenagers.

While the alien device could possibly be restored to its _original_ function, and transform people into children, it had not been possible to find a way to make it function the other way again. That meant Yosuuf and Garshaw had to mature the normal way, and Sam, Daniel, Martouf, Lantash, Freya, and Anise, had to remain children until they grew up again, at a normal speed.

Despite not being fully grown yet, Yosuuf and Garshaw were again members of the Tok'ra Council. As such, they were rarely able to just relax and have fun, so a situation like this was to be relished.

They played for almost two hours, by which time the children were tired - and hungry. After eating a large portion each of desert fowl with vegetables, tubers, and the cook's special sauce, they were all so tired they almost had to be carried to bed.

It had been a wonderful day.

* * *

They had stayed at the Tok'ra base for three more days, before returning to Earth. Since the children had summer holiday, there was no school, and they could spend the days playing.

SG-1 had finally gotten a permanent fourth - or fifth, if you counted Soltof/Gimbad as two - member, when Cameron Mitchell joined the team. O'Neill felt better with him on SG-1, even if he would still have preferred to be on it himself, instead of being a General and in charge of the whole base.

Of course, SG-1 could never go back to being the same team it had been before, with Sam and Daniel little children. However, O'Neill felt that Teal'c, Hailey, Soltof/Gimbad, and Mitchell would be a good replacement. Teal'c would take care of them, he was sure.

The threat level from the Trust was high enough that the children had to spend most of the time on the base, but not so high that it was not possible to take them on short day trips now and then. However, O'Neill felt it was safest that he accompanied them, so it was not something that happened often, as much as there was to do at the SGC.


	4. Chapter 4

"We're going to the amusement park, tomorrow!" Sam exclaimed, happily, as she ran into the room. "Teal'c told me!"

"Yaaaay!" Daniel, Martouf, and Anise screamed.

" _Teal'c_!" O'Neill called out from the other end of the room, when he saw the Jaffa enter after Sam.

"O'Neill!" Teal'c greeted him.

"It _was_ supposed to be a _surprise_!" O'Neill exclaimed. " _Dammit_!"

"I am sorry, O'Neill. The children asked me what we would do tomorrow, since it is their summer vacation, and you promised they would at no point have to spend an entire week at the base."

"It is Sunday tomorrow. If we go nowhere else that day either, we will have stayed at the base the entire week," Anise pointed out.

"And _that_ would make you a liar, Jack!" Daniel reasoned.

"Which we know you're not," Martouf added, quickly.

"So, we asked Teal'c, and he agreed. We _would_ be doing something fun tomorrow. We're GOING TO THE AMUSEMENT PARK!" Sam yelled, excitedly.

* * *

"When will we be there?" Daniel asked.

"I _told_ you not to ask that!" O'Neill said.

"No, you told us not to ask 'are we there yet'," Anise reminded him.

"We have only travelled for 31 minutes," Teal'c said. "The total distance will take 1 hour and 30 minutes to traverse, so another 1 hour until we arrive."

"Depending on traffic," O'Neill added.

* * *

"Can we have a un-limited ride pass each?" Martouf asked, reading the text beside the entry booth, while they waited for O'Neill to pay for their entrance.

"Yes, please, can we?" Sam begged.

"Please, please?" Freya added.

"Pretty please? With sugar on top?" Daniel said, looking hopeful.

"I believe that would be a good idea." Teal'c looked at the sign with the prices. "We should buy one each as well, O'Neill."

O'Neill looked at Teal'c, and then at the children, before he just sighed and turned to the woman in the booth. "Give me four kid's passes, and two for adults."

The woman smiled at him. "Here you go, sir. Have a nice stay."

"Thanks." He took the passes and went to hand them out to the excited children.

* * *

"What would you like to do first?" O'Neill asked.

"The bumper cars!" Sam insisted.

"Which ones are those?" Martouf asked.

" _Those._ " Sam pointed.

Martouf looked at bit apprehensive. "It seems... _dangerous_... but also fun, I suppose."

"Well you can't ride those - you're too small," O'Neill said. "Why don't you go look at the kid's rides?"

"The kiddie rides are mostly for kids 7 and under... _I_ am 8!" Daniel proclaimed, importantly.

"I'm not too small for the bumper cars. Look at the sign!" Sam told O'Neill. "I just need to be 43 inches, and I am! I am 45 inches!"

"I am too! 45 inches - and a _half_!" Martouf insisted, happily.

"We can all go! We're all over 43 inches!" Daniel made an excited jump.

"Well, except for Lantash and Anise..." Sam added in a low voice.

"Why does it say '43 inches to ride and 58 inches to drive'?" Freya wanted to know.

"It means either Teal'c or I have to go with you." O'Neill sighed, honestly not feeling like driving around in a bumper car with an excited child - and especially with all the other cars filled with children eager to hammer into _his_ car, as hard as possible.

"It appears the goal is to ram the other cars so hard they spin, without your own course being destabilized. I am willing to accept this challenge, if one of you would like to be my copilot," Teal'c announced.

"Oh, me!" Sam squealed.

"No, me, me!" Martouf quickly countered.

"And me," Freya said.

"Oh, oh!" Daniel jumped excitedly up and down, waving a finger in the air.

O'Neill just sighed. "I guess we'll take turns until all have gotten a ride, huh, Teal'c?"

"I believe that is a wise decision."

* * *

After each of the children had gotten a trip in the bumper cars, together with either Teal'c or O'Neill, they had somewhat reluctantly agreed to try a different ride next.

"What can we try that we're allowed to ride on our own?" Sam wanted to know.

"Looks like you need to be taller - or ride with an adult. For _everything_!" Martouf said, sounding unhappy.

"Why don't you check out the 'Kiddies Playland?' I know it's _mainly_ for kids under 8, but you're only _just_ 8, so maybe there's _something_ that you'd like?" O'Neill suggested.

"Nah, it's for little children," Daniel concluded.

"They have boats, though." Freya noticed. "My family had a boat when I was little. I haven't sailed since then. I mean, since I was little the _first_ time."

"Then we should go and try them," Martouf decided.

Sam nodded. "Yes, okay. Who gets there first?" She took off running.

The others immediately ran after her, and O'Neill and Teal'c slowly followed. The boats were not far away, and there were some nice benches they would be able to sit on and wait for the children to finish their ride.

* * *

After trying several of the different rides, including the 'kiddie roller coaster', several times, the children - and O'Neill and Teal'c - were getting hungry.

"Do you want a hot dog, a hamburger, or a slice of pizza?" O'Neill asked them. "They've got fries too, if anyone want that."

"Can I have an ice cream instead?" Martouf asked. "Please?"

"Later perhaps, right now you should eat some actual food."

"Ice cream _is_ food," Martouf insisted.

"No, it's a treat. You can't have any until after you've eaten _real_ food. If you're still hungry, then _maybe_!"

Martouf looked unhappy. "Pizza, then, since Lantash wants that. I would like fries. And cotton candy. And some orange juice, please."

O'Neill grimaced at the thought of that combination. "Cotton candy is a treat too. You're only getting real food now... and I don't think they have orange juice. Is orange soda okay?"

Martouf nodded, still looking unhappy. "Yes."

"I would like the same, but a diet coke," Sam said.

O'Neill looked over the selection. "Sorry, I think they only have Pepsi products."

"Diet _Pepsi,_ then."

"I want a hamburger with a soft pretzel," Daniel told O'Neill. "And root beer."

"You don't like root beer, Daniel. You told me yesterday you hated it."

"I want it now."

O'Neill shook his head. "Okay, but you better not change your mind! And you're _not_ getting a pretzel with your hamburger - do you want fries?"

"Maybe. Do they have mustard?" Daniel asked, slyly.

"I'm sure they do." O'Neill smiled.

"Then yes," Daniel said. "Please," he added.

O'Neill sighed and turned to Freya. "What about you? What would you like?"

"I think I would like a hot dog - and Anise wants one too. We would like the orange soda."

"Are you sure you can eat two hot dogs?"

"Yes, together Anise and I can eat two hot dogs."

"Well, okay." O'Neill smiled, deciding to go along with that. "Teal'c?"

"Two large cheese burgers, extra large fries, and a large Mountain Dew."

"I would like to change my hamburger to a cheese burger," Daniel quickly said.

O'Neill nodded. "Okay, a small cheese burger for you."

He went up to the booth and ordered the food for the others, as well as two slices of pizza and a Pepsi for himself.

It took little time for them to get their food, and soon he and Teal'c were carrying large trays full of food to the nearest tables, while the children were happily dancing around them.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want any mustard on your fries?" Daniel asked, holding the bottle over Sam's plate. "I would be happy to squeeze some out for you!"

"Yes! I'm sure! I _told_ you. Twice!" Sam exclaimed.

"But you'll love it! _I_ love it! What about you, Martouf?"

"No. You already asked me."

"What about Lantash?"

"He also does not want mustard on his fries."

"Freya? I know you didn't get any fries, but..."

"Daniel - leave the others alone, okay? Just eat your food," O'Neill told him, exasperated.

"I just wanted to share," Daniel grumbled, but concentrated on his food.

They ate in silence for some time, then Martouf stuffed the last of his food in his mouth and swallowed it.

"Can I have ice cream now? And cotton candy?"

"I would like ice cream also," Daniel proclaimed.

"Me too!" Sam smiled widely.

"And me!" Freya said, as she ate the last of her second hot dog.

O'Neill got a long-suffering expression and hid his face in his hand. Teal'c only smiled, having expected the children to remember the ice cream as soon as they had eaten.

* * *

"No, you're _still_ not allowed on the big roller coaster. Sorry, even _with_ Teal'c or me - but you _can_ ride that one." O'Neill pointed at a somewhat smaller coaster, called 'the Dragon'. "Or you can ride the children's roller coaster again. You liked that, didn't you?"

"Yes, but I'd like to try something else. Something that goes _faster_! Let's try 'the Dragon'?" Sam suggested.

"Okay... if you think so..." Freya said slowly, looking somewhat apprehensive.

"I'm not sure... it looks dangerous," Daniel said.

" _I_ am not afraid," Martouf proclaimed.

"Then neither am I!" Daniel insisted.

"Daniel, it's okay if you don't want to ride it - you can sit here with us while the others try it, or you can ride the smaller coaster?" O'Neill suggested.

"But I want to! Very much!" Daniel said, with a very determined expression on his face, that almost made O'Neill laugh.

"Off you go, then, all of you." O'Neill smiled.

"I believe I shall join you," Teal'c said. "We shall return shortly, O'Neill."

"No rush. I'm fine here." O'Neill leaned back against the bench and took a drink from the beer he had bought for himself, when everyone else had gotten ice cream.

* * *

"I feel sick!" Martouf proclaimed, looking like he was about to throw up.

"That's what happens when you fill yourself with ice cream and cotton candy after eating your burger and drinking your soda _way_ too fast!" O'Neill told him. " _Before_ riding the roller coaster!"

"Don't talk about food!" Daniel exclaimed, and suddenly ran for the nearest bush, where he threw up.

Martouf looked green, and lay down on the bench beside O'Neill, closing his eyes.

"You know, you'll feel much better if you throw up instead of trying to hold it down. Trust me," O'Neill said, feeling sorry for the boy.

"Lantash hates when we throw up. He says it is... unpleasant," Martouf whispered in a low voice, almost feeling too sick to speak. "He is working on making us... feel better."

"It's _always_ unpleasant to puke, but I feel better now. A little," Daniel insisted, sitting down on the ground beside Martouf. "Maybe even well enough to eat more ice cream."

Martouf just groaned at the mention of ice cream, and O'Neill threw Daniel a warning glance.

* * *

A little while later, the children were all feeling better again, and were back to running from one ride to another, with a speed that were almost making O'Neill dizzy.

The rest of the visit to the amusement park went very well, and they all had a lot of fun. It was quite late when O'Neill and Teal'c half-carried the very tired children to the car.

All the children slept peacefully the entire trip back to Stargate Command, and they only woke up long enough to be able to make it to their room, brush their teeth, put on nightwear, and then throw themselves on their beds. They were asleep again almost before their heads touched their pillows.

Smiling, O'Neill and Teal'c pulled the covers tight around the children, before they turned off the light and silently left the room.

It had been a great trip!


	5. Chapter 5

"SG-1 has a new permanent member?" Sam asked.

"Yep. His name is Cameron Mitchell." O'Neill told them. "I guess they got tired of waiting for you guys to grow up, and so they had to make due with someone else, eh?"

"Poor them," Daniel said, with feeling.

"Indeed." Teal'c looked at Daniel with amusement - but also some genuin sadness.

Teal'c was the only one left of the original members of SG-1. All the others had either been turned into children, or promoted away from the team. It was still a good team, but it was a different team, and sometimes he missed the old one.

"Will he come say hi to us?" Sam asked. "We can give him some advice."

"I'm sure he'll love that!" O'Neill tried to stop himself from laughing. "You know, I'm sure we can get him to come by. You're going out on a mission later today, aren't you, Teal'c?"

"We are. A woman calling herself Vala Mal Doran, brought us an Ancient tablet. It has been translated, with the help of Sokolf, and we are now going to England to find the treasure it speaks of."

" _England_?" Daniel looked at Teal'c, surprised.

"On  _Earth_?" Sam wondered.

"Yes, indeed," Teal'c confirmed. "It was apparently written by an Ancient named 'Myrddin'... 'or ' _Merlin_ '."

"You  _must_  let me come!  _Please_! I can't miss this!" Daniel cried out.

"Well, you're  _going_  to miss it, young man!" O'Neill told him. "Don't worry, I'm sure there'll still be fascinating stuff and all kinds of fancy rocks to look at when you've grown up."

"But... but...  _Merlin_... the knights of the round table!" Daniel looked devastated.

"You know what? I saw they had a sale on Disney movies in a store at the mall - what do you say we go buy 'The Sword in the Stone'?" O'Neill suggested.

"That's a great idea!" Martouf said, enthusiastically.

"It's not the  _same_!" Daniel complained.

"Come on? It'll be fun!" Sam said.

"Very fun. Please, Daniel?" Anise begged.

Daniel sighed, then nodded. "Okay."

* * *

Once in the store, they had quickly found the movie they wanted - and managed to convince O'Neill they needed to buy three movies, since there was a sale on three.

After some arguing, O'Neill had given in - since he secretly wanted to watch the movies himself. They returned home with not only 'The Sword in the Stone', but also 'Peter Pan', and 'The Jungle Book'.

"We should have bought more movies. They had  _so_  many that looked great!" Sam insisted.

"Later, maybe," O'Neill said, having secretly decided to go and get several more movies while they were on sale. They would make great Christmas gifts - if he could wait that long before giving them to the children. "Why don't we go get sodas and snacks? Maybe some candy... and have a fun afternoon?"

"Can we have popcorn?" Martouf asked.

"Absolutely. In fact, I think I  _need_  popcorn." O'Neill grinned at them.

* * *

It turned out to be a great afternoon. They watched two of the movies, and would watch the third the next day. Since the base was relatively quiet, O'Neill had allowed himself to take the time off to watch the movies with the children.

As he walked back to his office, he smiled to himself when he thought about the children and how much they had enjoyed the movies. They clearly enjoyed that he had taken the time off to be with them as well, something he had rarely had time to do lately.

He sighed, knowing he would have to tell them soon; he was being promoted again, and this time it meant he would have to leave the base, and move to Washington. The children, however, would probably not be allowed to relocate there, nor would it be truly safe for them, with the Trust ramping up their business again.

Janet/Rhiva and Teal'c would look after them, and he would check in on them now and then, but it would not be the same, and the children would almost certainly not be happy about it.

The new commander of the base would be a man both O'Neill and Hammond knew and trusted - General Hank Landry.

O'Neill was still sitting in his office, musing over all of this, when the Stargate activated and SG-1 returned, carrying a load of things they had recovered from the Ancient hide-out under London.

* * *

Several weeks later, O'Neill returned to visit over a weekend.

"Jack!" Daniel exclaimed, happily, as he threw himself at O'Neill.

"We've missed you!" Sam yelled, hugging both O'Neill and Daniel.

"A lot. Welcome back!" Lantash smiled, joining Sam and Daniel in the group hug.

"It has been sooooo long!" Anise exclaimed. "Much, much too long." She did her best to wrap her arms around both O'Neill and all the others.

"I've missed you guys too!" O'Neill smiled. "So, tell me, what have you been up to?"

"We said hi to the new guy in charge of SG-1," Daniel told O'Neill.

"His name is Cam-eron Mitchell," Anise said. "He seems nice."

"We also met a woman who used to be a Goa'uld," Daniel explained.

"She was host to Qetesh until the Tok'ra freed her," Lantash said, proudly.

"I think she's not to be trusted," Sam chimed in. "But yeah, she seems nice."

"Oh, and we started school again." Daniel ran to the nearest table and picked up some books, which he then gave to O'Neill. "See? New interesting books, but  _much_  too easy for us!"

O'Neill laughed. "Lots of stuff happening here. That's good, then you don't have time to miss me. Did you even notice I was gone?"

"Of  _course_  we did." Lantash said.

"It is not true we did not have time to miss you. We missed you!" Anise insisted.

"Lots," Daniel added. "How long are you staying?"

"Just until Sunday, I'm afraid. I've got a lot of work to do in Washington. However, I thought maybe we could go on a picnic tomorrow?" O'Neill suggested. "The weather should be nice, and I already asked Teal'c - and Janet and Rhiva. They'll be happy to come!"

"Yay!" Sam exclaimed, clapping her hands.

"Sounds great!" Freya said, happily.

"What about Cassie?" Daniel asked, looking hopeful.

"She's back at college now, you know that." Jack smiled, feeling proud of Cassandra and what she had achieved. "She wants to be a doctor, like her mom."

"Yes, we know. We still wish she was here, though," Lantash said, somberly.

"Of course." O'Neill ruffled Lantash's hair. "Listen guys, let's pack up a few things - pyjamas, a change of clothes, warm sweaters, some toys, and so on - and then I'm going to take you all to Janet and Rhiva's place. You'll stay there tonight, and we'll watch movies together and eat some good food - and then we'll do the picnic tomorrow, how does that sound?"


	6. Chapter 6

Both Teal'c and O'Neill had spent the evening at Janet/Rhiva's place, watching funny movies and eating pizza with the children. It had been a great, relaxing time.

Janet and Rhiva had shopped for food and drink for the picnic, and the next morning they, together with the children, prepared a large picnic basket.

About half an hour before O'Neill and Teal'c were to show up, the telephone rang, and Janet answered. When she hung up, the children looked worriedly at her.

"They didn't call to say they couldn't come, right?" Sam asked, worriedly.

"No surprise Goa'uld attacks, please?" Martouf looked very concerned.

"Nothing like that." Janet smiled mysteriously. "They called to say we're going to get a few guests."

"Guests?  _Who_?" Anise frowned, trying to think of who it could be.

"Will there be enough food?" Martouf asked.

Janet laughed. "You'll see who it is - as for the food? Jack said he'd bring some extra, so no need to worry."

"Good." Martouf looked relieved.

"Should we bring some games? Where are we going for the picnic?" Daniel wondered.

"We're going to the Memorial Park," Janet said. "I've been there a couple times before - it's a nice place, with some great picnic areas, stuff you can look at, and places you can run and play. I think Jack and Teal'c said they were going to bring some games we could play, but if there's anything you think you'd like to bring, then that's okay. Oh, and you should bring your bathing suits if you want to swim - there's a nice spot for that."

"Yay, that sounds great!" Martouf smiled widely.

"I think we've got enough cheese-and-ham sandwiches now, Sam - start making some turkey sandwiches too," Janet told her. "You know Teal'c prefers those."

"And peanut-butter-and-jam, please!" Anise said, putting the fruit she had just washed into a plastic bag. "We need  _many_  of those."

"We have no ice cream!" Martouf suddenly realized. "You said yesterday we could have some for dessert - and we don't have any!"

"Don't worry, they're selling it at the park - you'll get to pick when we get there. Doesn't that sound much better?" Janet asked.

"Yes - but do you think they have pistachio?" Daniel asked, suddenly worried.

"Maybe, but if they don't, I'm sure they have some other ice cream you'll like," Janet said, soothingly.

"Hm." Daniel looked doubtful.

"Listen, I know you've got some toys here, and your swimwear is here too, so why don't you run and find that? I'll finish up packing the rest of the food," Janet told them.

* * *

"It's the doorbell - go open it, one of you, will you?" Janet called out.

Sam ran for the door, followed by Martouf, Daniel, and Freya. They opened the door, and saw who stood outside.

"Dad!" Sam exclaimed. "I didn't know  _you_  were going to be here!"

"It's a surprise!" Jacob smiled, as he held out his arms and let Sam and the other children jump him. "We were just stopping by with some intel, and then Teal'c told us about the picnic you guys were going on. Since we're not in any hurry to get back, we decided to join you!"

"We missed you!" Martouf told him. "You, too, Malek, Johan!" He exclaimed, seeing the other Tok'ra.

"Hello, children." Malek smiled at them.

"No greetings for Teal'c and me?" O'Neill asked, pretending to pout.

"Hi, Jack, Teal'c!" Daniel greeted.

"Sorry, Jack and Teal'c. Hello," Freya said. "We are pleased to see you."

* * *

It was a fairly short drive to the park, and soon they were walking along a track.

"What would you like to do first? Swim? Play ball? Go to the playground? Or should we perhaps rent a couple of boats?" O'Neill asked.

"Swim!" Lantash exclaimed excitedly, forgetting to hide the distortion.

"Voice," Janet warned.

"Sorry," Lantash said, using Martouf's voice and looking ashamed.

"Rowboat!" Daniel insisted.

"Swim!" Sam countered.

"Anise wants to swim, but I want to sail!" Freya said.

"Maybe we could dive from the boat?" Sam suggested.

"Nope, that's too dangerous," O'Neill insisted.

"Why don't you change to your swimwear, and take a quick dip, then we'll rent a boat afterwards?" Janet said, trying for a compromise.

* * *

"Wheeee!" Sam exclaimed, as she jumped from a large rock and into the water, making a huge splash, that showered the other children with a wave of water.

"Sam!" Daniel complained. "Don't  _do_  that!"

"You're already wet! Why do you care? It's  _fun_!" Sam insisted.

"It feels cold and unpleasant when all those little splashes hits you - and you get water in your mouth and nose!" Anise said.

"You need to  _hide_  the distortion or let Freya speak, Anise," Martouf admonished her.

She stuck out her tongue at him and splashed water at him.

"Hey! You hit me too!" Daniel cried, scooping up water and throwing it at Anise.

"You did not hit me!" she said, triumphantly.

"No, but  _I_  will!" Sam made a big splash with both her arms, then hurried away, grinning loudly.

"It's fun to splash in the water!" Martouf agreed, using his arms and legs to cause huge cascades of water to shower them all.

"Calm down!" O'Neill yelled at them from the beach. "Or else you're coming in  _right_ _now_!"

"Look!" Sam pointed down into the water. "Orange fish!" She took a breath of air and submerged to see if she could see the fish better, then started chasing them. She did not catch any, but instead collided with first Martouf, then Daniel, before coming up for air, sputtering.

"What are you  _doing_!" Martouf exclaimed.

"Trying to catch the fishies!" She dove again.

Daniel and Martouf both followed, trying to spot the fish Sam had discovered, while Anise watched from a little distance away.

"It's not orange fish, it's  _goldfish_!" Daniel insisted, when they again came up for air.

Martouf had given Lantash control, and he attempted to catch one of the fish with his hands. He almost caught it, but not quite, and it got away. "It's not really easier with hands than it was using your mouth - when I was little, I mean."

"You  _are_  little," Sam said.

"I meant the  _first_  time. When I was a child  _not_  in a host." He shuddered. "This is  _much_  better."

"Are not goldfish those fish that are in the aquarium in Janet's house?" Anise asked. "You said they were from some other place and did not live wild in this country!"

" _Some_  of those fish are goldfish. Not all of them." Daniel clarified. "And they don't live here in the wild."

"These obviously do!" Anise insisted.

"This isn't the wild - not really..." Daniel defended himself.

"They don't live in the wild here - unless someone re-leases them. These were pets, probably," Sam added.

"Why would you let your pets out?" Lantash looked confused.

"People get tired of them and just dump them somewhere. It's common. People are stupid." Daniel shrugged.

"That is  _evil_! A- _ban_ -doning someone who is your friends!" Anise looked horrified.

"And often bad for the en-vironment -  _and_  the pets," Daniel said.

"Bad humans!" Lantash concluded, unhappily. "We should catch all the poor fishies and keep them in a tank?"

"Maybe we better ask first?" Sam threw a worried look in the direction of the beach, where Teal'c, O'Neill, Jacob/Selmak, Malek, and Janet were sitting. She had not forgotten how Jacob had reacted to the pets they had caught when they were living with the Tok'ra for a while.

* * *

The children had been told to come out of the water, and they were all currently sitting in two rowboats. One held O'Neill, Jacob, and the children, and one had Teal'c, Malek, and Janet. They were sailing around at a low speed, just enjoying the nice weather.

"Why won't you let us catch the little fish and keep them in a tank?" Sam wondered, letting her hand trail in the water, now and then grabbing for a stick or plant floating on the water.

"Yes, won't you please let us?" Martouf begged. "It would be better for the fish. That is, I  _think_  it would..."

"It would be e-du-cational for us," Daniel added.

"And fun. Pleeease?" Freya said, hopefully.

"I told you  _no_! Do you have any idea how much work it will be trying to catch them?" O'Neill argued.

"But you  _like_  fishing!" Sam insisted.

"Not like this - not with a net. Besides, I doubt people would take kindly to us catching anything in this lake. I don't think it's permitted."

"Maybe you can get a... a  _li_ _-_ _cense_?" Daniel suggested.

"No. This discussion is over." O'Neill gave them a stern look. " _Understood_?"

"Hey, guys! What do you say we sail to that nice spot and have our picnic there?" Janet shouted, from the boat behind them. She pointed at a small stretch of white beach, flanked by lush green grass, and a few bushes and trees. It  _did_  look like the perfect place.

"That sounds like a great idea," Jacob quickly said, happy to have something to hopefully take the children's interest away from the fish. "Don't you think so, Jack?"

* * *

"Do you want me to help bar-be-cue the food?" Lantash asked, hopefully.

"No, I think I can manage just fine, thank you." Jacob smiled at the boy.

"Are you sure you brought enough patties? And sausages? Chicken drumsticks? Bread? Don't you think we need to get more?" Daniel asked, looking with concern at the barbecue.

"Nope, we've got enough - look in the cooler," O'Neill told him. "Less than a quarter of the food is cooking right now. If anything, we brought way,  _way_  too much."

"Especially with all those sandwiches you guys made," Jacob said. " _Delicious_  sandwiches." He quickly added, seeing Sam starting to look unhappy. "Why don't you find one of those for each of us, then we can eat that while we wait for the warm food to cook?"

"Great idea!" Lantash exclaimed, running for the basket they had brought. "What kind of sandwich do you want? Turkey? Cheese and ham? Strawberry jam?"

"You're forgetting the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!" Anise said. "I want one of those!"

After some time, everyone had gotten a sandwich of the type they wanted, and peace fell over the group as they ate their food.


	7. Chapter 7

On the mission to the Ancient Myrddin's hide-out, an Ancient long range communications device had been found. Hoping to use it to learn more about Myrddin's people, SG-1's new leader, Cameron Mitchell, and their guest, Vala Mal Doran, had ended up having their minds transferred to the bodies of two people in a distant galaxy.

Unable to disconnect them from the device, the doctors, as well as the remaining members of SG-1 had worked for several days before - in an act of desperation - Teal'c and Sokolf had thrown the Ancient communications device into an engaging wormhole. This had freed Mitchell and Vala.

After this experience, SG-1 had been given some time off. Teal'c had used it to go to visit his son and daughter-in-law, and Sokolf had taken the opportunity to return to his Tok'ra base, to visit friends.

When Janet became host to Rhiva, they had discussed where they wanted to live and work, and they had chosen to be stationed at Stargate Command for most of the time. However, Rhiva was a very competent healer, as well as a researcher, and the Tok'ra had asked that Janet/Rhiva stay in the Tok'ra tunnels and help out there, for 3 months every year. They had agreed to that, and it was now time to go to the Tok'ra base.

While Janet and Rhiva were away from Stargate Command, a new doctor, Carolyn Lam, would take care of their duties. When they returned, they would again become chief medical officer, and Carolyn Lam would be their second in command.

* * *

"Do you really  _have_  to leave?" Sam complained.

"You know Rhiva and I promised them, sweetie," Janet said, giving Sam a hug.

"But you'll be gone  _forever_!" Daniel whined.

"It's just three months. That time will be gone before you notice! Besides, you can come visit us, right?"

"Can't we come now, then?" Martouf asked, hopefully.

"Yes, that is a  _great_  idea!" Anise said.

Janet smiled. "I'd love for you to come with me, but you have school, remember?"

"School! We don't  _need_  to go to school! We've already learned it all the  _first_  time!" Daniel scoffed.

"We've already discussed that, sweetheart, you know you have to go! Jack will be coming later today, and he'll stay until Teal'c is back from visiting Rya'c and Kar'yn, okay? You have class in a little while, and Jack will be here long before you're off for today."

"Okay." Daniel nodded, slowly.

"Any of you want more food?" Janet asked.

They all shook their heads. "No."

"Then let's get this all moved aside, and then get to the base. Do you have anything here you want to bring? Then go get it now!"

* * *

Soon they were back at Stargate Command, after their weekend trip to Janet and Rhiva's house. The children said goodbye to Janet/Rhiva, and hurried to class.

It was barely two hours later, when the intruder alert signal sounded.

"What is  _that_?" Anise wondered.

"The intruder alert," Sam told her.

"I  _know_  that, right? I  _meant_  what is going on?" Anise said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm sure it's nothing," their teacher, Jennifer Thompson, said, soothingly. "We'll just continue for now."

"What if we're under attack? It's an  _intruder_  alert!" Martouf pointed out.

"You're safe in here, and there isn't anything any of us can do anyway. It's better we stay here and wait for someone to tell us where to go, if they want us to be somewhere else," Miss Thompson assured them.

Not feeling particularly reassured, the children nonetheless returned to reading their books. The class room was on level 7, so they were  _probably_  not in any immediate danger.

* * *

Suddenly, the door was opened, and Jennifer Hailey - recently promoted to Captain - stuck her head inside, looking very surprised.

"Hi, Jennifer... I mean, Captain Hailey... sir!" Martouf said, sending their teacher, also named Jennifer, a sideways look.

"Aren't you on leave with the rest of SG-1?" Sam wondered.

"I was on my way, when the intruder alert was sounded.  _Why_  are you still here? Hasn't anyone been here to take you to safety?" Hailey looked accusingly at Miss Thompson.

"We heard the intruder alert, but I made the decision to stay, since we're so far from the Stargate level. No one has come to tell us we should leave," Miss Thompson said.

" _Civilians_!" Sam scoffed.

"Hey! I'm a civilian too! So are  _you_ , right now!" Daniel exclaimed, indignantly.

"Quiet! We don't have time for this!" Hailey said, raising her voice. "We need to get you out of here, and  _fast_."

"What's happened?" Daniel wanted to know, as they were quickly running down the corridor, with Miss Thompson and Hailey.

"Yeah, who's attacking?" Martouf asked.

"A Goa'uld. This way..." Hailey lead them to the elevator, and pushed the 'up' button.

"Which one?" Sam immediately wanted to know.

"Listen, not right now, sweetie, okay?" Hailey sounded stressed and preoccupied.

"Yes,  _now_! We're waiting for the elevator, you have time to tell us!" Sam insisted, then added. "You wouldn't even  _be_  here at Stargate Command, if I hadn't helped!"

Hailey sighed, then nodded. "You're right, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't treat you like little kids - even if I guess you are. Somewhat." She gave them a wry grin. "Okay... this is what happened... the day before yesterday, SG-7 went out to P3X-839, together with one of the archaeologists, Doctor Kira Johnson. P3X-839 is one of the planets we've visited before, and are helping out a little. Anyway, they'd mentioned that an earthquake... or whatever we're supposed to call them when they're not on Earth... had uncovered a temple, and that there might be stasis jars there."

"One of the jars had broken and the Goa'uld had taken a local?" Daniel wondered.

"No - or not as far as I know, at least. SG-7 and Doctor Johnson returned yesterday evening, reporting they'd found a temple, but that it wasn't particularly interesting, and that the only stasis jar there had broken during the earthquake, and the Goa'uld that had been inside was dead. No one suspected anything. They had their post-mission check-up - done by Doctor Warner, since Doctor Fraiser wasn't here.  _He_  said they were clean,  _all_ of them!"

"Weird, so the Goa'uld didn't take one of them?" Sam said.

"Oh,  _I_  know, it came through,  _invisible_ , like a Re'tou!" Daniel suggested.

"No, the archaeologist had been taken as a host, we just didn't know yet." Hailey stopped her explanations when the elevator arrived, and they all stepped into it. She pushed the button to take them to the top level, then turned to the children again. "Lieutenant Isaacs happened to see the entry scar when they showered today. The Goa'uld noticed, and knocked her down, but she must have been interrupted, because she didn't kill Isaacs. Anyway, Isaacs told me, as soon as she woke up, and I went to report to Landry, but he seemed strangely uninterested. Many of the others are behaving strangely as well, so I don't know  _what_  is going on!"

They stepped out of the elevator and proceeded through to the exit area. They had not taken many steps, before they were stopped by two guards.

"The base is under lock-down, Captain, and we can't let you or anyone else leave," one of them said.

"I'm just getting the kids out. If we're being invaded, this is not the place for them," Hailey told him.

"There is no invasion. You are to return to your post."

"What about the intruder alert?"

"An error. We have been notified of a contagion on the base, which is causing irrational behaviour. That is the reason for the lockdown. I'm sorry, by we can't let  _anyone_  out," the other guard said.

"I will contact General Landry -  _he_ _'_ _ll_  tell you to let the children out," Hailey insisted.

"Our orders come directly from General Landry.  _No_ _one_  is allowed to leave!" The guard raised his weapon slightly.

Hailey frowned, sensing something was off, but there was nothing she could do - and she did not want to risk a confrontation with the children standing beside her. "Okay, I'll... go talk to General Landry. Come on, kids, Miss. Thompson."

* * *

"They were behaving  _strange_!" Sam said, in a low voice, when they were back in the elevator.

"I agree. I'm going to find a safe place for you guys, and then I'll see if I can get to the bottom of this." Hailey pushed the button for level 6. "There's a large storage room where you can hide. I doubt anyone is going to come look for you there."

"This  _can_ _'_ _t_  be the doings of just one Goa'uld, can it?" Miss Thompson said, nervously.

"I guess all of SG-2 could be infected as well, and not just Doctor Johnson, but I don't know how likely that is. Besides, even if that were the case, how did they make everyone  _else_  obey?"

"Couldn't they just have taken over Landry, and then he'd order the others to obey?" Sam suggested.

"Possibly..." Hailey frowned.

"Do you know what the name of the Goa'uld is?" Martouf suddenly asked.

"No, I guess it might have said on the stasis jar, but I don't even know if they brought it back. Why?"

"Lantash just had a... su- _spicion_. Do you know of any markings on the temple?"

Hailey shook her head, then suddenly nodded. "Yes, actually... I remember reading the original report - there were images of frogs several places. I thought that was really odd."

Martouf bowed his head, giving Lantash control.

"Heqet. She used a frog as her symbol."

"She's a fertility goddess," Daniel said.

"Oh, no..." Sam suddenly realized what they were dealing with.

Lantash nodded, seeing Sam's reaction. "She is a queen, yes. One who has been gone since long before the Tok'ra came to be."

"A  _queen_? So what?" Miss Thompson looked uncomprehending.

"Not just a royal queen, though she was that too. She's a  _breeding_  queen. Such Goa'uld have... the ability to control men," Lantash explained.

Hailey groaned. "Damn."


	8. Chapter 8

The children and their teacher were sitting on the floor in one of the large storage rooms, hiding behind a veritable mountain of flour sacks.

"How long do we have to stay in here? We must've been here for _hours_!" Sam complained.

"I know, sweetheart, but we can't leave until we know it's safe. I'm sure Captain Hailey or someone else would have come for us, if it was safe," Miss Thompson said.

"What if the Goa'uld has killed everyone else and we're the only ones left?" Daniel sounded very worried.

"Or maybe they've just forgotten about us?" Martouf suggested.

"I need to pee," Anise said.

"So do I... and I'm hungry," Sam whined.

"Me too!" Martouf agreed.

"And me!" Daniel chimed in.

"I need to pee, _now_!" Anise said, her voice taking on a desperate edge.

Miss Thompson sighed. "Let's see if we can find something in here to eat that doesn't need to be prepared first - and then I'll check if the way is clear to the bathroom, okay?"

"We're immune to the queen's pink breath, aren't we? I mean, since we've not reached _pu_ -ber-ty," Sam said.

"Yes," Martouf confirmed. "Though you're always immune - the shri'tah'ista... the 'pink stuff', it only works on males. _Unblended_ males."

"Like me. Yeah, I remember." Daniel shuddered. "I'm not in danger now, am I?"

"No, not from that. She can always kill you, of course," Martouf observed. " _And_ the rest of us."

"We need to find out if the others are drugged. Then _we_ must save the base!" Sam concluded.

* * *

After some searching, they had found several vacuum-sealed cakes, which they had eaten, as well as many containers with juice. The need to find the bathroom had only become more urgent, and Miss Thompson had snuck outside to check - carefully - if they could reach a bathroom without danger.

"Okay," Miss Thompson whispered. "Follow me - but be _quiet_!"

They hurried to the nearest restroom area, and a short while later, they were all feeling much better.

"There's someone outside!" Martouf said, in a low voice, quietly closing the door again.

"What do we do?" Daniel sounded scared, speaking in a voice that was not as low as what would have been advisable.

"Quiet!" Sam hissed.

"Who is in there?" a soldier said, opening the door wide.

"Just us," Sam answered, trying to look even smaller.

"We were playing hide-and-seek," Martouf explained, hoping the soldier would believe him.

The soldier looked at the children and their teacher. "You can't be on this floor. All non-military personnel has been ordered to go to their quarters."

"We'll go there immediately, Airman," Miss Thompson said.

"I'm not non-military!" Sam insisted, sounding insulted.

"Not now, Sam. Just go with the rest of us!" Daniel said, in a low voice.

He and Martouf pulled Sam after them, and they all hurried towards the elevator, so they could go to their quarters, as ordered.

* * *

The soldier - Airman Simpsons - had pushed the children into their quarters, and made sure the door was locked behind them. Their teacher had been taken to a holding cell, and locked up with the other women on the base.

Simpsons had then gone to report to his new master, Queen Heqet.

"My queen, we have found the missing school teacher, and the children. She is with the other women, while the children have been locked up in their quarters."

Heqet acknowledged with a brief nod. "Why are there children on a military base?"

"They are the unfortunate victims of an alien device, which de-aged them," Simpsons said.

"Still, why are they kept here?" Heqet frowned, wanting to know the background, and whether there were anything to these children which might mean they could be a threat.

"I know little of what happened. Two of them are former SG team members, the other two are Tok'ra."

"Tok'ra? What is that?" Heqet pondered the name, and again realized how much she did not know, after spending more than 3000 years in a stasis jar. It displeased her. " _Against_ _Ra_?"

"Yes. They're... a Goa'uld resistance, I guess."

"Two of the children are host to Goa'uld?" Heqet asked, alarmed.

"Eh, yes." Simpsons looked concerned. Why was his Queen angry at him?

"Send someone here who knows more about them. _Immediately_!"

"Yes, my Queen." Simpsons bowed, and left the room.

* * *

"You have knowledge of the children living on this base? The ones that have been de-aged?" Heqet asked.

"Yes, Queen Heqet," Doctor Warner said, bowing awkwardly.

"Are they more than normal children? Do they retain the knowledge of their adult selves? _Tell_ _me_!" she demanded.

"They have the memories, but do not seem able to access them consistently. Behavioural-wise, they are 8 year old children," Warner assured her.

Heqet nodded, dismissing the two humans as threats. "The two who are hosts to Goa'uld? They were hosts _before_ becoming children again?"

"Yes, my Queen. Also... not only the humans were de-aged. The symbiotes were as well. They are the equivalent of 8 year old human children... that is, they are 4 years old."

"That is so?" Heqet grinned to herself. This meant the symbiotes would be unable to take control, even from the young children. They were harmless! "They are part of a group which desires the downfall of Ra?"

"Yes, they are... and that is something which has already happened."

"Ra is dead?" Heqet smiled, gleefully. This was sounding better and better. Here she was, on the world of the Tau'ri, and Ra was dead! "Tell me _all_ you know of the Goa'uld in this time!" she demanded.

* * *

"We can't just stay here! We need to rescue the others!" Sam insisted. "If Heqet's a queen, then she's probably got all the men mes... _mes_ -merized. Like Hathor did."

"Could you _not_ mention Hathor?" Daniel complained.

"Sorry." Sam gave him a hug.

"Samantha is correct. Heqet will have locked up all females on the base, and all adult males will have fallen under her spell by now, so _we_ are the only chance of cap-turing her!" Lantash said, with conviction.

"Maybe, but what can we do? We're little children!" Anise sounded frustrated.

"Which means _every_ -one will under-estimate us!" Daniel said.

Lantash nodded. "I agree, they pro-bably will."

"She'll sense you and Anise, though," Sam pointed out. "Won't she think you're just adult symbiotes in kids bodies?"

"Yes... but if she knows we're kids too, she'll think we can't take control, and she'll not worry about us," Lantash said. "She's Goa'uld... and she won't think human children are a danger."

"Because she's been in stasis since before the Tok'ra existed, so she'll think you're Goa'uld," Daniel realized.

"Meaning our hosts wouldn't _give_ us control. Yup, exactly." Lantash smiled.

"We'll _teach_ her not to under-estimate us!" Sam said, determinedly.


	9. Chapter 9

"I've got the extra key!" Daniel said, jumping down from the chair he had used to reach the place behind a picture, where they had hid the spare key they had 'borrowed' at some point.

"Great! Let's see if the way is clear, then!" Sam went to the door and pressed her ear against it.

"Let me. I have better hearing," Lantash pointed out, matter of factly.

Sam looked rebellious for a moment, then gave in to what she knew to be a fact. "Okay."

Lantash took her place by the door, and listened for some moments. "I don't hear anyone out there - I think we can leave safely."

"Wait! How are we going to do this?" Anise said. "We cannot capture the Goa'uld if everyone else here obeys her."

"Isn't there some sort of... _anti_ -dote for that drug she has?" Sam asked.

"Yes, but it's individual for each queen, so we need a sample of her shri'tah'ista - and a la- _bo_ -ratory to make the anti-dote," Lantash explained.

"So that's out." Daniel looked unhappy.

"Maybe we could contact the Tok'ra?" Sam suggested.

"How? The chaapa'ai is surely under guard, and we do not have any sort of long range communi- _ca_ tion device," Lantash said.

"Okay - what's _your_ plan, then?" Sam asked.

" _If_ Heqet - and the soldiers - think we're harmless, we can walk around the base. Maybe say we were hungry or something. Perhaps we'll find a way to in-ca _pa_ -citate Heqet," Lantash speculated.

"That sounds _dangerous_ \- and unplanned." Anise snorted.

"Okay." Lantash shrugged. "Then... why don't we see if we can get to the infirmary, steal some sleep gas or something, and _drug_ the soldiers on the base?"

"We'll drug ourselves too, _duh_!" Daniel exclaimed.

" _Perhaps_." Lantash looked uncertain. "No, not all of us. Maybe. Anise and me will be more resistant. We won't get drugged."

"In that case Heqet _also_ won't - and what can just you and Anise do?" Sam asked.

"She thinks we are harmless. We'll steal a zat'nik'tel and stun her, then grab a sample of her shri'tah'ista, then go to the Tok'ra, and have an anti-dote made. If we're quick, we can be back before everyone wakes up," Lantash said, with confidence.

"It still doesn't sound like it will work." Sam sounded sceptical.

"Do you have a _better_ plan, perhaps?" Lantash asked, a mixture of confidence and irritation on his face.

"Some drug we have an anti-dote to, so you can wake up Daniel and me, maybe." Sam said. "And the adult women - let them out and give them an anti-dote to the sleep gas, then _they_ can help us lock up everyone else... _maybe_."

"Okay, sounds like a good idea," Lantash admitted.

* * *

The children had made it to the elevator and stepped out on level 21 - where the infirmary was located - before anyone could see them, and order that they stop.

"What are you doing on this level?" an airman suddenly demanded.

"We were going to the mess," Sam said, looking around. "I think we got off on the wrong level."

"We're _hungry,_ " Martouf explained.

" _Very,_ " Daniel added.

One of the other soldiers shrugged. "Let them go - what can they do?"

"Okay - off you go, then. To the mess hall. This floor is off limits. Understood?"

"Crap," Daniel said, when they were back in the elevator and the doors had closed.

"You're not supposed to say 'crap'," Sam reminded him.

Daniel rolled his eyes at her. "Neither are you."

"Are we going to level 22, then?" Anise asked.

"Yeah, and we better pretend we're getting food. Besides, I really _am_ hungry," Martouf said.

After a stop off at the mess hall - and after eating some food - the children were back in the elevator.

* * *

"We can't go to the infirmary, they'll just stop us. What do we do then?" Daniel asked.

"Maybe there's some stuff we can use in some of the science labs on level 18 or 19," Sam suggested. "But we need ac-cess cards."

"Most of the people seem too out of it to notice much of anything, unless it's a threat to Heqet. Maybe we can steal an ac-cess card?" Daniel suggested.

"We still need a code." Sam wrinkled her brow as she thought it over. "We'll get Hailey's card and ask for the code. We just need an excuse to visit her."

"Oh, nothing else! _That'll_ be easy!" Daniel snorted.

"I think it will!" Sam grinned. "Hailey's the closest thing to a guar-dian for us on this base right now. You know, since everyone is away, and General O'Neill hasn't arrived yet. I think. If I fall and hurt myself and cry loudly enough, maybe they'll agree to let me go to her for comfort. Don't you think?"

Martouf shrugged. "Might work."

"We do not know where she is locked up," Anise reminded them.

"Holding cells are on level 16," Sam said. "Are you coming?"

* * *

Surprisingly enough, their plan worked. Sam pretended to have hurt her foot, and the other children supported her as she limped towards the nearest guard, crying loudly and wanting to see Hailey.

The guard had hesitated for a while, before giving in. Either he felt sorry for Sam, or he just wanted her to stop wailing. Regardless, Hailey was allowed out for a short time, and she took Sam aside, to talk to her.

The other children distracted the guards while Sam talked to Hailey, and after a little while, Sam allowed herself to be soothed, and Hailey was returned to the prison cell.

"You got the access card and the code?" Martouf asked, when they were safely back in the elevator.

"Yes. She didn't wanna give it to me first. She thinks we should just hide and let the _adults_ handle things - and that it's too _dangerous_ for us." Sam scoffed. "She finally realized we're their only hope!"

"Good. What now?" Daniel wondered.

"Now we go to the lab and try to find something to use to _drug_ people with!" Sam said.

"Don't you think they'll suspect us?" Anise looked worried.

"Possibly." Sam wrinkled her nose as she thought about it.

"I have an idea!" Martouf exclaimed.

"What is it?" Sam said.

"We dress up and pretend we're playing!"

"Yes! That's an _awesome_ idea! We'll put on those costumes we got from Jack! You know, the superhero costumes?" Daniel said, eagerly.

"Of course! And that will make it all _so_ much cooler since we're saving the base!" Sam grinned happily.

"To the batcave!" Daniel said, importantly.

* * *

A short time later, the children were dressed in their superhero costumes - Daniel as Batman, Sam as Superman, Martouf/Lantash as Spiderman, and Freya/Anise as Batgirl.

Pretending they were playing a game, running around and having fun, they made their way to Hailey's laboratory without anyone stopping them or paying much attention to them.

It was to their advantage that most people on the base were used to seeing the children regularly, even if not in secure or potentially dangerous areas such as the laboratories.

However, the soldiers were sufficiently drugged, that they did not find it strange the children were in areas where they were not usually allowed - as long as it was not somewhere that seemed to pose a threat to Heqet.

* * *

"There's _nothing_ in here we can use!" Sam said, with despair.

"Pretty metal balls you've got here!" Lantash said, picking up a handful from a box.

"Marbles - to play with!" Daniel exclaimed, happily, as he saw them. "I'll teach you how!"

"That's _ball-bearings_!" Sam scoffed. "They're used to, uh, reduce ro-tational friction." She looked important. "It's probably okay if you grab some to play with," she decided.

"Thanks!" Lantash took a couple handfuls of the small metal spheres and stuffed them into a bag he was carrying.

Daniel grabbed some as well, as did Freya - and then, eventually, so did Sam.

Lantash gave Martouf control.

"I've got an idea... aren't there any storage rooms or something with drugs and stuff?" Martouf asked. "Or maybe _other_ la- _bo_ ratories - that the card can open?"

"Maybe." Sam looked thoughtful. "There's a few that I would have had access to, and Hailey's got _my_ job. There's also some storage closets with stuff."

"Then let's see what we can find?" Daniel suggested.


	10. Chapter 10

Anise suddenly smiled, then grabbed a fairly large, egg-shaped object with both hands, and carefully moved it from the shelf to a table. "Yes! _Look_ at what I have found!"

"I remember that one! We found it on P2X-924!" Sam said, excitedly. "Like, 3... or maybe 4 years ago! We never figured out what it was! I thought it had been sent to Area 51!"

"It's a Ta'Shri Voc," Lantash told them. "That's... it translates to 'sleep gas bomb', I suppose. It must be an old one. I have a vague memory of Ra using them, a long time ago. They'll easily spread gas over an entire village - or a fairly large army."

"That's horrible - and also awesome!" Sam said.

"Why don't the Goa'uld use them all the time?" Daniel wondered.

"The gas does not work on Jaffa - or Goa'uld, for that matter - so it is of little use. Human armies are rare, and not considered worthy of wasting resources like this on. I think Ra made them after humans rebelled. On Earth. They've not been used much since," Lantash explained.

"We couldn't get it open. That's lucky, I guess!" Sam realized.

"Very. The gas would have put many people on the base to sleep. All, if it spread fully. It would have kept you asleep for many hours."

"Do you know how to activate it?"

"Yes, you also need naquadah in your blood to do so. _And_ know how to control it."

"Okay. So we get it into the ventilation somehow... and then knock out everyone," Sam said.

"Including Sam and me, right?" Daniel looked worried.

"Yes, including the two of you," Lantash confirmed.

"Is there some sort of, uh, _anti_ -dote, maybe?" Sam wondered.

"I don't know. Probably?" Lantash looked at Anise.

"I am sure Tok'ra scientists can make one. With ac-cess to a la- _bo_ ratory and e-quip-ment," Anise said, with confidence.

"So we have to wait for the sleep drug to stop working? Or contact the Tok'ra. That's not good!" Sam exclaimed.

"Do you have a better plan? I assure you, we can do this!" Lantash insisted.

"What's your plan pre- _cisely_?" Daniel wondered.

"Take that Ta'Shri Voc and get the gas in it into the air... the venti-lation system, right? There's a way to do that, isn't there?" Lantash asked.

"Yes... there's an air pro-cessing plant on level 10. We'll just crack that thing into it, and that should do it," Sam said, slowly.

"Okay! Then we wait until people have started falling asleep and go knock out Heqet..."

"It's probably not a good idea to wait - she'll get suspicious when people start falling asleep and hole up somewhere." Sam argued.

Lantash thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Martouf and I agree. So... we go immediately to find out where Heqet is. So when the guards near her starts falling asleep, we hit her."

"How? Killing her is not good - think of the poor host!" Daniel exclaimed.

"A zat'nik'tel, then. It should keep her un-conscious for long enough that we can tie her up," Lantash said. "Then we go to the control room and dial the Tok'ra base where Jacob is... _and_ we'll get some to come here and help."

"Wait - you need to use the..." Sam wrinkled her brow as she tried to think of the word. "Palm scanner... reader... thingie. And only those who are on the permitted list can open a wormhole. Oh, and there's the iris."

"Won't there be someone in charge who has... clea-rance?" Anise asked.

"Yes, but he'll be un-conscious, right?" Sam said.

"His palm will still give ac-cess, if we just hold it against the reader, won't it? I saw that in a movie!" Lantash said.

Sam nodded. "You're right. Okay, it might work! I'll tell you guys all I remember about using our dialing com-puter, and opening the iris!"

* * *

Surprisingly enough, the children made it to the air processing unit without any problems.

"We _will_ succeed. Don't worry," Martouf assured Sam and Daniel.

Sam nodded. "I believe you. I think... no, I'm sure." She smiled at him.

"What if you can't get a zat and shoot Heqet?" Daniel asked, concerned.

Martouf gave Lantash control.

"We'll get her, somehow. I'm convinced of it!"

"Yes... we will," Anise said, sounding somewhat less than certain.

"Okay... um, good luck, then," Sam told them. Then she suddenly hugged first Lantash, and then Anise, hard.

Daniel did the same, and then they all made a big group-hug, for good luck.

* * *

Martouf and Freya rode the elevator down to the level where Landry's office was. Hailey had told Sam that this was where Heqet seemed to have made her head-quarters, so that was what they were counting on.

When they left the elevator, the soldiers they passed looked like they were about to pass out. Both Lantash and Anise had long since detected the drug in their and their hosts systems, and were working on filtering it out and neutralizing any effect from it.

"No one's wearing a zat'nik'tel," Martouf whispered to Freya, as he pulled off his costume's mask, in order to better see his surroundings. "And we don't have access to a weapon's locker. How can we get our hands on one?"

"I do not know..." She stopped, and looked at Martouf, realizing he had sensed it as well. "Heqet. She is in there." Freya nodded towards the door to the General's office.

The door slammed open a few moments later, when Heqet stepped outside and looked directly at Martouf and Freya, then at the guards who were leaning against the wall.

"Are _you_ the ones responsible for this? _Kal'ma_! That cannot be so!" She glared at the guards, who slid to the floor at that moment, already deeply asleep. " _Has'shaks_! Shel Kree!" She flashed her eyes, sensing the symbiotes in the children. She shook her head at the odd outfits, clearly not recognizing them as Spiderman and Batgirl. "What _is_ that you are letting your hosts _clothe_ you in?"

Lantash wanted to yell at Heqet, but Martouf admonished him. They did not need to antagonize the Goa'uld further. He looked around for a weapon or something to use, but the guards were too far away. He tried to discreetly move towards them. "I'm just a little kid. Why would you think _I'm_ to blame?"

"Me too. I have not done _anything_ wrong. Why are you angry at us?" Freya sniffled - and threw a circumspect glance at the guards who had slid to the floor. She was much too far away to have a chance of reaching them and their weapons, but Martouf just might.

Heqet laughed shortly. "Oh, I do not think any of _you_ have planned this! At most, one of the females on this base has not been captured, and are using you to distract me. Where is she? _Tell_ me!" She flashed her eyes again, for effect.

"No... I don't know _anything_ about that," Martouf insisted, pretending to be afraid and shrinking back - steadily moving towards the fallen soldiers, and their guns.

"Nothing at all," Freya repeated, hoping to draw Heqet's attention away from Martouf, and towards her instead. "Why do you not like our costumes?"

Heqet ignored the question. "Obey me! You _must_ be used to obeying! You are hosts! Soon, your symbiotes will be mature, and you will again have no control of your life!" She laughed evilly. "If you are nice, and tell me where the traitors are hiding, I _may_ decide to give the Goa'ulds inside you other hosts, when they swear their allegiance to me. You could be free, like you are now. How does that sound?"

"Being able to have control is good... but there is something you do not know..." Martouf took a few quick steps towards the weapon lying just beside the nearest soldier. He had almost reached it, when Heqet noticed.

"Kree! _Sholva_! What are you trying to do? Hm?" She raised her hand with the hand device. "Stop it, _immediately_ , or you _will_ regret it!"

Martouf realized he would not be able to reach any of the weapons before Heqet used her hand device, and immediately released control to Lantash, hoping he would be able to distract Heqet.

"I have no interest in another host. I am quite satisfied with the one I have now... and I will _never_ serve _you_!" Lantash said.

"How did _you_ get control?" Heqet looked at him with surprise. "You should not be able to take it from your host, if you are as young as they tell me."

"I am truly only four years old... however, Martouf _gave_ me control!" Lantash laughed gleefully. "You don't get it, do you? I'm Tok'ra! That means I've got a willing host! One I _happily_ share control with, and who happily shares with me!" Just then, he happened to touch the small bag that he was carrying, and felt the bearing balls, then smiled, getting an idea.

Heqet looked shocked for a moment, then raised her hand again. " _If_ that insanity is true, I have no use for you as an underlord..."

"Come and get me, then!" Lantash stuck out his tongue at her, causing her to become angry enough to make a run for him instead of using the hand device. He immediately pulled out a handful of the steel balls and threw them on the floor in front of her.

Heqet did not stop to see what he had thrown, and stepped on the balls. The effect was immediate - she lost her footing, and for a few moments, she tried to regain it, as she slid and skidded across the floor, in the direction of the stairs outside the General's office. A few seconds later, she tumbled down the stairs, then hit the floor with a large crash. She made a yelp as she fell, then became quiet as she hit the back of her head against the edge of the lowest step.

"Wow!" Freya said.

"That... was _way_ more effective than I'd have expected!" Lantash just stared down at the unconscious Goa'uld. "Do you think she's dead?"

"No idea. We better check."

They ran down the stairs, and carefully approached Heqet. Freya held her hand over her forehead for a moment, then touched her neck to feel for a pulse.

"Is she alive?" Lantash asked.

"Yes." Freya nodded. "Both host and symbiote. Got a bad hit, though, but I think she will heal."

"We should tie her up - and lock her up somewhere."

"Agreed."

* * *

After tying up Heqet, and - with some difficulty - dragging her to the elevator, and then further on to a cell where they locked her up, Lantash and Anise proceeded to go to the Stargate operations room.

Walter Harriman was lying on the floor, unconscious. Together, Lantash and Anise managed to lift him up, and place his hand on the palm scanner, so the computer would accept input.

They then dialed the Tok'ra base Jacob was stationed at, and Freya/Anise went through, with Martouf/Lantash staying behind to reopen the iris for her and the Tok'ra that would be arriving with her.

* * *

"Looks like you've got things more or less under control here, honeys," Janet said, smiling at Martouf/Lantash and Freya/Anise.

"Mostly." Lantash smiled proudly. "There's still some things we need help with, though," he admitted.

"Like un-drugging all the men from Heqet's stuff and waking up everyone," Freya said.

"And doing something about Heqet," Lantash added.

"Relax, that's why we're here. You've done enough. We'll take care of the rest." Jacob smiled at them.

* * *

It only took the Tok'ra a few hours to make an antidote to both Heqet's shri'tah'ista, and to the Goa'uld sleep gas, and soon everyone was awake and themselves again.

The Tok'ra took Heqet - who had by now healed the damage to herself and her host - with them to the Tok'ra base, to see if it would be possible for them to remove the symbiote. Heqet was a queen, and would be much harder to extract without killing the host, than a normal symbiote.

While going through the base, they found that Heqet had had time to start her plan for domination of the galaxy - by choosing Mitchell as her 'pharaoh' and giving birth to a clutch of larvae in a similar hot tub to the one Hathor had once used.

The Tok'ra took the larvae as well - they would likely be Goa'uld, but for now they would serve a purpose, since there were still some Jaffa who were unable to use tretonin, and as Free Jaffa, they had a hard time getting hold of new primtas.

The children had saved the base - and aside from commendations from General Landry, they got a huge cake, as well as permission to each pick _any_ gift they wanted in the toy store! That was a reward which mattered _much_ more to them than any medal ever could!


	11. Chapter 11

The children were once again confined to base, this time because _Ba'al_ \- and a number of clones he had created of himself - had relocated to Earth, and were causing problems. He was probably not interested in the kids, but it was considered safest for them not to leave the base.

The next couple months, Sam, Martouf/Lantash, Daniel, and Freya/Anise spent their time going to school, and playing in their room and the nearby corridors, since the base was on elevated alert most of the time.

It had been fairly boring for the children, and it had not been made better by the fact that all the adults that were usually taking care of them were kept very busy with both Ba'al's antics, and the Ori growing stronger and more dangerous.

It did not look as if things would lighten up anytime soon, and O'Neill came up with an idea - they should make an extra effort to celebrate a fun Halloween with the children, even if they were not allowed outside the base.

* * *

"So, what do you want to dress up as for Halloween?" Janet asked, when the children visited her at the Tok'ra base she and Rhiva were currently on.

"I want to be a Roman soldier!" Daniel said immediately.

"I think we can make you such a costume fairly easily, so that's fine." Janet looked at the others. "Anyone else?"

" _I_ want to be a ninja!" Sam exclaimed. "A really cool one with a sword and some of those throwing stars!"

" _Shurikens_!" Daniel corrected.

"Whatever." Sam shrugged.

"I'd like to dress up as a tiger," Martouf said, then frowned. "But Lantash would like to be a superhero."

"Making a ninja costume won't be too hard, Sam, and I'm sure we can find a toy sword somewhere. Not sure about the _shurikens_ , but we'll think of something. Now, Martouf - and Lantash - why don't we combine those two ideas for your costume?"

"How?"

"What about a tiger superhero? Or just a superhero that dresses like a tiger?"

"That's ridiculous!" Daniel said, scoffing.

"No it's not, Daniel," Janet admonished. "What do you think of the idea, Martouf?"

"Maybe. Can the costume have both a tail and a cape?"

"Sure."

Martouf discussed it with Lantash for a few moments, then nodded slowly. "Okay. We'll be 'Tigerman - the roaring avenger'."

Janet laughed. "That's a great name! We'll get you a costume, promise!" She turned to Freya/Anise. "What would _you_ like to dress up as?"

"A fairy... or a witch," Freya said, remembering the fantasy books and comic books they had been reading recently. "Or maybe a devil... something that has wings."

"Cute wings or scary wings?" Janet asked.

"Not sure. Can't they be both? Maybe a cute devil with cute wings?"

"Devils aren't normally cute, but we'll see what we can come up with." Janet smiled at her.

"Or maybe a fairy, but only if she can have a tail!"

"Fairies don't have tails!" Daniel told her.

"Why not? _My_ fairy has a tail!" Freya insisted.

"Freya - if you want to be a fairy with a tail, then we'll make such a costume. Okay? I'll talk with Teal'c and Jack, and we'll figure something out for all the costumes," Janet promised.

* * *

"Wow, _awesome_ costume!" Martouf exclaimed, holding out the tiger tail, then ran around in a large circle, the cape flapping after him. "Here comes the roooooaring avenger! _Tigerman_!"

His eyes flashed, as Lantash took, over, and kept running around and jumping up and down, clearly enjoying the costume.

Janet smiled at him, then looked at Sam who was studying the rubber-shurikens they had managed to find for her. "Acceptable?"

She and Rhiva were very happy they had convinced the Tok'ra Council to let them go to the SGC for a couple days, to celebrate Halloween with the children.

Sam nodded slowly. "Yes, yes, it is. Very much so. Thank you."

"My costume is great too!" Freya said, looking very pleased as she studied her wings in the mirror. "Cute."

"I am a most feared centurion!" Daniel told them, waving his sword in the air, which meant it wobbled. He frowned, obviously not happy about that. "I shall conquer the universe and take the _best_ sword I can find!"

"Sounds like you're having fun, guys!" O'Neill said, grinning, as he stepped through the door to their quarters. "Are you ready for some trick-or-treating?"

"Yes! Where are we going?" Daniel asked, eagerly.

"Just around the base - but I suspect there are several who have some candy for you. Wanna go see?" O'Neill looked mysterious.

"Very much!" Sam and Lantash both said, and Freya nodded enthusiastically.

"Don't you need a costume?" Daniel wondered.

"No - you wouldn't want me to look so cool that people give _me_ all the candy, would you?" O'Neill asked, smiling.

* * *

Teal'c opened the door to his quarters and looked out at the group of children.

"Trick-or-treat!" Sam, Lantash, Daniel, and Freya yelled at the same time.

"Aren't our costumes _awesome_?" Sam asked, looking happy.

Teal'c smiled at them all. "You costumes are indeed awe-inspiring. I believe you have come to receive your offerings of sugar-filled edibles."

" _Candy_ , Teal'c!" O'Neill rolled his eyes.

"Indeed, O'Neill. I have more than enough for you as well." He turned to take the large crate that was standing beside the door. "You may each choose as much as you can hold in your hands - _twice_."

"Yaaay!"

The children all grabbed as much as they could, and stuffed it into the bags they had brought for the candy.

"Did you not wish any candy, O'Neill? Doctor Fraiser? Rhiva, perhaps?"

Janet shook her head, but then got a blank expression, as she talked with her symbiote. She dipped her head, and Rhiva looked up.

"Janet does not wish for any candy, but I would like some."

"Of course. You are quite welcome to it." Teal'c held out the large crate, and Rhiva took a few pieces. "More?"

She smiled. "Yes, please." She took a small handful and put it in her pockets.

Teal'c held the crate out to O'Neill, who had decided not to take any of it. However, seeing that even Rhiva took some, he did not feel the need to hold back.

"Sure, why not? Thanks, T!" He took a handful, then another, and stuffed his pockets, with a slightly embarrassed expression. "So, are you gonna join us? We're going to knock on several more doors today!"

"I do not own a costume, so I do not believe that would be correct."

"Do you see a costume on me or Rhiva? It doesn't _matter_ , Teal'c, people will think it's cool! I mean... who has ever seen a Jaffa go trick-or-treating?"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow, and considered it for a moment. "That is true."

"Just... put on a large towel as a cape, maybe?" Sam suggested.

"And you can wrap a scarf or something around your head or part of your face, to be a bandit - or a ninja!" Lantash said, remembering some of the movies they had watched.

"There's much more to being a ninja than that!" Sam looked self-important. "But you can dress up as a bandit, I guess."

Teal'c nodded. "I believe I shall follow your advice."

"Why don't you all do that? You can be the gang of three... I mean _four_ candy bandits!" Daniel sounded eager. "Please?"

Rhiva grinned. "Janet and I are... _game_ , if you are, General O'Neill."

O'Neill slowly shook his head, looking at her. "You know, I can't have it on me that I'm less willing to loosen up and be fun than a _Tok'ra_... so I guess, I'll do it!"


	12. Chapter 12

Janet had told several of their friends at the base that the children would be going trick-or-treating there on Halloween, so people had brought candy, meaning the children ended up with large bags full of it.

She frowned slightly as she looked at the large amounts of goodies, almost regretting they had arranged this. However, as Rhiva reminded her, the children did not get much candy otherwise, and they had not had much fun this year, so they deserved this.

"What are we doing now?" Sam wondered.

"Teal'c mentioned there'd be a party this evening - and that one of the rec rooms has been decorated. Is that true?" Daniel wanted to know.

"Well... yes, that's true, but it was supposed to be a secret," Janet admitted.

"Now, since we know, can we go see the room?" Martouf asked.

"I don't think they've finished decorating, sweethearts. _Later_."

"Maybe we can help with the decorations?" Freya suggested.

"You don't need to - there's some people in charge of that," Janet said, knowing the whole idea was to surprise the children. "You know, if you want, we can carve a pumpkin together. Would you like to do that?"

"Yes!" Sam said, eagerly.

"We'd love to do that!" Daniel added.

"What do you mean, 'carve a pumpkin'?" Martouf looked confused.

"I forgot - we didn't celebrate Halloween with you the two previous years, so you've never done it before," Janet said. "You know how there were a lot of scary stuff in those pictures I showed you of Halloween celebrations?"

"Yes - the cobwebs and ghosts and devils..." Freya nodded.

" _I_ am not scared! It's all just fake. Right?" Martouf said, looking slightly concerned.

Janet smiled. "Yes, it's all just fake. No worries. Anyway, I don't know if you remember it, but there were some pumpkins in those pictures. Pumpkins carved so they had scary faces - and then you put a light inside and put it up as a lantern. Outside, or in a dark room."

Freya nodded. "Anise says she remembers seeing those, but that she did not know they were pumpkins."

"They are. Now, would you like to try and make some? I have black marker pens, so you can draw faces on the pumpkins, and then we carve them together. Okay?"

* * *

"Hi, O'Neill!" Lantash exclaimed, seeing him. "Come, look! Isn't this an _awesome_ pumpkin?" He pointed at it. "I just need to put a candle inside it, then it's ready!"

"It's great!" O'Neill said, meaning it. The pumpkin had a large, maniacal grin, and small, somehow evil-looking eyes. " _Very_ scary."

"Thanks - it's inspired by a Goa'uld that captured me once. An underling of Sokar's... Anezti, I think his name was. He's dead, though. _Fortunately_."

"Let's not think of such things right now." O'Neill shuddered.

"My pumpkin is supposed to look like Kinsey!" Sam grinned. "What do you think?"

O'Neill studied it. "Kinsey is uglier, but I think I can see the similarity." He smiled, then turned to Daniel and Anise. "What about you guys? Have you also carved your pumpkins to look like someone?"

Daniel shook his head. "No, mine is just... traditional."

"Traditional can be good." O'Neill nodded. "I think it's nice."

"Mine is... free fantasy," Anise said. "Freya thinks it is a complete failure." She looked unhappy.

"It's not a failure." He ruffled her hair, looking at the pumpkin, which had an insane expression. "Unusual, perhaps, but not a failure. I think they're all great! Well done!"

"Let's get some candles put in them, and then we can tell the people decorating the rec room, to come pick them up? Ah... Jack? Is everything ready for the 'mini pumpkin hunt'?" Janet asked.

"Yes, Teal'c told me he was going to put out the last ones a few moments ago, so I think we're ready to go."

"What is a 'mini pumpkin hunt'?" Sam wanted to know.

"Teal'c and Jack have hid 100 small pumpkins on this floor, and the floors above and below. It's really small ones - they'll fit in the palm of your hand. Well, maybe not, but in my hand, at least." She smiled, grabbing four bags. "Here. You go look for them. You have one hour to search. The one who finds the most, gets a prize."

"Go wash your hands first, though," O'Neill said, seeing how they were all sticky from the pumpkin pulp. "I'm sure Teal'c will be back here by then, so we can get started."

* * *

"Yes, I _knew_ there was one under here! Now I've got ten!" Sam exclaimed, pulling the small pumpkin from under the pillow.

" _I_ have got fourteen pumpkins," Lantash announced, proudly.

"I only have seven. You guys are obviously _cheating_!" Daniel insisted.

"I am _not_ cheating!" Lantash exclaimed, angrily.

"Do not fight, please?" Freya begged. "Come help me instead. There are several of the pumpkins hidden behind those books." She pointed. "I cannot get to them without moving all the books aside."

"We'll help, of course," Lantash and Daniel both promised.

"I'll help too!" Sam hurried to the others.

After helping each other move aside several books, Freya fished out four pumpkins from the back of the shelf, and gave one to each.

"Fifteen pumpkins," Lantash said in a low voice.

About ten minutes later, Teal'c stepped into the room. "One full hour has passed. You must cease searching for pumpkins immediately, and follow me to receive your rewards."

"Rewards?" Lantash asked. "Oh... and I found a total of seventeen pumpkins!"

"Prizes. The prizes Janet talked about," Daniel grumbled, as he followed the others out of the room. "I'm not gonna get any, because you guys took _all_ the pumpkins!"

"I have twelve," Sam proclaimed. "How many pumpkins did you find, Daniel? Freya?"

"Eight. You all know that," Daniel said, unhappily.

"I have found nine - only one more than you, Daniel," Freya told him, trying to make him happy again.

"It doesn't matter who found most - it was just for fun!" Janet said, hearing what they were talking about. "We've got a prize for each of you."

"What did I get from finding most pumpkins, then?" Lantash asked, a bit miffed.

"You get to choose first," O'Neill told them.

"Okay." He nodded, satisfied.

Janet went over to the table, and took four packages out of a large box. "Pick one."

"What about Martouf? Doesn't he get a gift? He helped finding the pumpkins."

"You found them together, so you get to share the prize, okay?"

"Hm." Lantash sounded somewhat less than pleased, then nodded. "Okay. I'd like _that_ one." He pointed at the second-largest package, which was rectangular.

"Here you go. It's yours." O'Neill handed it to him.

Lantash shook it gently, listening to the sound it made. "LEGO." He smiled happily.

"I want that one," Sam said, choosing the largest of the packages.

O'Neill gave it to her. "Freya? Which package do you and Anise want?"

"Hmmm." Freya looked at the two remaining packages, thinking about the choice and discussing it with Anise.

Meanwhile, Sam had ripped off the paper from her gift. "A skateboard! Yes! That's so _awesome_!"

"Hurry up and choose!" Daniel said.

"That one." Freya pointed.

"Here you go." O'Neill gave it to her. "And this one is your's, Daniel."

"I got a..." She studied the box for a moment more. "3-dimensional puzzle of the Empire State Building."

"I got a 'Kids Archaeology Kit'." Daniel looked on the back of it. "This contains... 'a copy of an Egyptian Pyramid, a small sarcophagus and mummy, an ancient looking death mask, four canopic urns, as well as hammers, brushes, chisels... and a book about ancient Egypt and Egyptian gods!'" He looked angry. "This is an insult! Who thought this was a good gift? You _knew_ I would lose this contest and that the others wouldn't take this prize!"

"The Egyptian gods are Goa'uld, I doubt that book is being truthful about that fact," Lantash pointed out, looking up from where he was already building with his LEGO.

"How can there be four canopic jars inside? There is barely space for one!" Freya insisted. "At least they are not stasis jars, then."

O'Neill sighed. "I was in a hurry, and didn't really have time to read closely what it said on the box. Sorry, Daniel - but we really had no way of knowing who would get that one."

"You can come help me build this castle, if you want?" Lantash offered.

"And you can try my skateboard," Sam said.

"We can _all_ build the puzzle together." Freya gave Daniel a hug.

Daniel smiled at them. "Yes... okay - to all of it. What do we do first?"


	13. Chapter 13

"Come - it's time to go to the Halloween party," Janet said.

"In a moment," Sam answered, before going back to helping the others put together the 3-D puzzle.

"There's lots of yummy food - and the room looks really great. Weren't you looking forward to the party?" O'Neill reminded them.

"Yes..." Martouf admitted. "We just wanted to finish this." He pointed at the puzzle.

"It does not appear to be close to completion. Perhaps you can continue this project tomorrow? If you wish for me to assist you, I would be honoured to do so." Teal'c offered.

"That'd be great, Teal'c, thanks!" Daniel smiled. "Okay - we're coming."

The children all got up and followed Janet/Rhiva, O'Neill, and Teal'c.

* * *

"So, what did I tell you? Doesn't the room look great?" O'Neill asked, smiling at the children.

"It looks fantastic!" Sam breathed.

"Very... cool," Martouf said, backing a little from the doorway, when he discovered the large spider hanging just in front of him.

Daniel grinned, giving the spider a thwack. "It's fake. _Plastic._ "

Martouf nodded, and followed Sam and Daniel into the room. Anise hesitantly went after them, taking care to keep as large a distance as possible to the spider.

The large recreation room had been decorated mostly in black and orange, with a few other colours mixed in. Large - fake - cobwebs hung in corners and in lamps, and small and large spiders were placed in them or dangling down from them. Small pumpkins decorated the tables, and the large pumpkins the children had carved were standing among smaller ones, with lit candles in them.

The light was subdued, with candles providing the only light. Small skeletons, ghosts, and other items meant to provide the right 'atmosphere', were placed on the walls, and hanging from the roof. It was clear the personnel assigned to this 'mission' had invested a lot of time and energy in the job.

Food and drink were being brought in while they looked - and that, too, were made to fit the rest.

"Wow, those drinks look _awesome_!" Daniel exclaimed, going to grab one.

"What _are_ they?" Martouf asked, carefully.

"That one's called 'Ghoulish Punch'," Hailey explained. "And no, it's got nothing to do with 'Goa'uld'."

"I know. Daniel explained the difference earlier today." Martouf said. "What's in it? It's green... and with some sort of white foam floating on it. Lantash thinks it's disgusting, and maybe dangerous."

"It's _supposed_ to be disgusting! Look at the rest of the food and drink!" Sam told him, rolling her eyes.

"It's just lime gelatin, orange juice, mineral water, and orange sherbet. Try it!" Hailey smiled at him.

"Okay." Martouf took a glass and studied it carefully, before taking a very small sip. "It tastes great!" He looked surprised.

"I'll get one too, then!" Sam said.

"And me!" Anise took a glass from the table.

"I think I prefer this one," Daniel said, sniffing the glass he had picked up.

"Nope, sorry - that one's for the adults, Daniel!" Hailey grabbed the glass. "It's 'Vampire Sangria' - it's made with red wine and orange juice, and some other stuff."

"Can I have one of those, then?" Daniel pointed at a light green drink, with a gummy worm and gummy fish in. A light mist had formed at the top.

"Ah, 'swamp juice'." Hailey grinned. "Sure, go right ahead." She winked at Janet. "Mineral water, lemonade, tapioca pearls, and food colouring - and the gummy candy. The mist is from dry ice - which has evaporated now. Can't harm him."

"Okay." Janet nodded, still eyeing the drinks suspiciously. "I guess I'll have a, uh, 'vampire sangria'."

After gettings drinks, they each grabbed a plate and started filling it with the different kinds of - fun and disgusting-looking - food. There were sandwiches made to look like severed fingers, baked potatoes made to resemble heads, pizza with mozzarella cheese cut out in little ghost-shapes, small hotdogs made to look like mummies, a large chocolate cake that resembled a graveyard, cookies shaped like pumpkins, and much much more. The cooks had been _very_ creative.

* * *

When everyone was full, O'Neill had a game for the children - and for any adults that wanted to participate as well.

"It's called 'bobbing for apples'," O'Neill explained. "Lots of you probably know it, but for those that don't, I'll explain... see that large basin full with water? We're going to put a bunch of apples in it, and then you try to catch an apple, and pick it out of the water - using _only_ your teeth. Get it? You can't use your hands - we'll tie them behind your backs to prevent cheating!"

"That sounds _difficult_ ," Freya observed.

"How hard can it be?" Martouf insisted. "Just bite into the apple and pick it up!"

"Hard - trust me. I've tried it before," Sam told him.

"But we're ready to try!" Daniel said, looking confident.

"Do you time us? Is there a prize for the winner?" Sam wanted to know.

"No, this is just for fun - though there _are_ prizes, sort of... for everyone." O'Neill promised. "Something my uncle made for me when I was a kid. Something edible."

"What?" Daniel asked.

"You'll see - you've probably tried it, they still make it."

"Okay." Daniel sighed dramatically.

* * *

Janet tied Martouf's hands behind his back, then pointed at the water-filled tub with apples floating in it. "Okay, try to pick up one."

"Of course." Martouf awkwardly kneeled beside the basin, and leaned out over the water. He tried catching the nearest apple, but it rolled and slipped aside, and he almost stumbled, dipping his face in the water.

O'Neill stood beside the container, ready to help, so no one got their head under water. Martouf sent him a glare, making it clear he did not need assistance. He righted himself, and looked at the apples, which were floating and rolling around on the surface of the water.

He made another attempt to catch an apple that were floating nearby, but it got away as well. After a couple more attempts, he pushed one of the apples against the side of the basin, and managed to keep it there for long enough to bite into it, and pick it up from the water.

Victorious, he stumbled to his feet, with the apple still in his mouth.

"Nice!" Janet said, hurrying to untie his hands.

"Well done!" O'Neill smiled.

"You're good at it!" Sam admitted, giving him a hug, then turning to Janet. "My turn now?"

"Sure. Come, let me tie your hands."

"Can I eat the apple?" Martouf asked.

"If you want to, but aren't you full? You also need to save some appetite for my surprise, after the contest," O'Neill told him.

"Lantash can tempo-rarily raise our me-ta-bolism... oh, and he wants to try to pick up an apple also," Martouf told them.

"It's my turn after Sam," Daniel said.

Martouf bowed his head, giving Lantash control.

"I can wait." He looked at Freya. "What about you?"

"You are welcome to go first. Anise suggests we study various people's tactics, before attempting this."

* * *

Lantash nodded. "A sound strategy."

Eventually, all the children had succeeded in picking an apple out of the basin, using only their mouths. Lantash had been much better at it than Martouf, but the others insisted it was just because he had observed how his host did. Lantash was somewhat miffed about this, but too much fun was going on for him to be angry for long.

Some of the adults tried bobbing for apples as well, and the children enjoyed looking on, and seeing that they were generally no better at it.

"So... time for that surprise of yours, right?" Sam asked, looking at O'Neill. "You said it was _almost_ like a prize for each of us!"

"Well, that might be stretching it a little." O'Neill admitted. "But I do think you'll like it. Teal'c! Let's go get the goodies."

"Of course, O'Neill."

* * *

"See, these are candy apples - and I'm sure plenty of you folks have tried these before. Or so you _think_ , because you haven't tried _these_ candy apples. They're made with the special recipe of my uncle Patrick O'Neill. You see... the trick is to use small, tart, not too soft apples."

O'Neill and Teal'c each put a large tray down on the table. The red candy apples had been sprinkled with coconut flakes, and really did look very delicious.

" _Nice_!" Sam said, her eyes sparkling.

"Can we take one each?" Lantash asked.

Wise from experience, O'Neill knew what Lantash was asking. "You and Martouf can have _one_ , to share. If it turns out that you're still hungry after that, then you can have another. Okay?"

"Okay." Lantash nodded.

Teal'c had left the room, and now came in again, carrying a very large bowl, which turned out to contain popcorn balls.

"Looks like they turned out great, Teal'c!" O'Neill grinned, grabbing one of the treats and eating it. "Yummy. We tried these in a store somewhere, and decided to try and cook some."

"The idea was mine, but you were not adverse to it," Teal'c observed.

"What's popcorn balls?" Anise wanted to know.

"You know what popcorn is, right?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, of _course_!" She rolled her eyes.

"Well, this is popcorn, stirred in some sort of caramel, and rolled into balls," Daniel explained.

"That is a very short version, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c observed.

"But essentially correct," O'Neill hurriedly said, not wanting any long explanations. "Listen, we need to go get one more thing, then we've got it all, okay?"

"Sure you don't need help carrying anything?" Janet asked.

"No, we're good." O'Neill assured her.

He and Teal'c left, only to return after a little while, pushing a rolling table between them. On the table stood enough cups for everyone in the room, and a large pot, with steam coming up from.

"What's that? Witches brew?" Daniel asked, grinning.

"Yeah, that's what we're calling it." O'Neill smiled at him. "Want any?"

Daniel sniffed. "Smells good."

"What is it?" Lantash asked, suspiciously, when Teal'c poured him a cup.

"Apple juice, honey, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and orange," Teal'c informed him.

"Careful - it's hot!" O'Neill warned, as he and Teal'c poured the drink to the children.

"I'm _always_ careful!" Sam insisted, blowing on the hot brew.

"You've really done a good job!" Janet said. "Rhiva and I are feeling guilty for leaving most of this on you."

"Nah, don't worry about it, we know you've got stuff to do at the Tok'ra... though, if you're feeling guilty, you can always bake us a cake." O'Neill smiled as Janet rolled her eyes at him.

"Can I have another candy apple?" Lantash asked. "Please?"

O'Neill, Teal'c, and Janet all grinned.

"Sure, sweetheart. Here you go." Janet handed him one, and he happily ran over to join the other children, who were playing a game.


	14. Chapter 14

The Halloween party had been a great success, and soon they all agreed it was a good thing they had made such a big, fun celebration out of it. It would probably be quite a while before they had the opportunity for a party again. The Ori attacks were getting more dangerous, and it was unlikely there would be opportunity to celebrate Christmas much that year. Of course, the children would get gifts and a Christmas tree, but the adults would have to spend most of their time on the war with the Ori.

An Ori plague broke out, and started spreading across Earth, and the decision was made to send the children to live with the Tok'ra, until a cure could - hopefully - be found.

Janet and Rhiva had by now been stationed 3 month at their Tok'ra base, so they had gone back to Earth to help and try to find a cure for the plague. Malek had volunteered to join them.

* * *

"How long are we staying here, dad?" Sam asked, as they stepped away from the ring transporter platform, in the Tok'ra tunnels.

"I don't know, Sammie. We'll see," Jacob said, sounding worried.

"This is a new planet," Martouf observed. "But I noticed it's still a desert one."

"Yes, we've had to move again - all the bases, in fact. This is actually just a small outpost, with 20 people - Malek thought it was safer for you to stay here."

"Does that mean our pets aren't here?" Martouf asked.

"Yeah, sorry. They're fine, though. Phovol is taking care of them," Jacob told them. "Listen, I know this won't be the funniest place to stay for you, especially right now, but we'll think of something. Right?"

* * *

About a week passed, with the children playing in the tunnels, swimming in the pools, and now and then helping out with whatever needed doing. Jacob made sure that they did the schoolwork their teacher had given them to look at, so that took some of their time as well.

Still, it was a very small base, with little for them to do, and they were not allowed outside often - and never on their own. The people stationed there rarely had any spare time they could spend with the children, so they usually had to stay inside.

* * *

Sam sleepily stuck her head out of the childrens room, and looked at the commotion. First two Tok'ra ran past, then another, and after them came Jacob. He stopped when he saw his daughter.

"What's going on, dad?" Sam asked.

"We're going to evacuate some people. An Ori prior showed up, while one of our operatives were checking out the planet. The operative managed to hide, but we need to help the locals. They don't want to worship the Ori, so it's only a matter of time before they're attacked."

"Do you need our help?" Daniel wondered, as he stuck his sleepy-looking face out of the doorway, too.

"Or mine and Lantash's?" Martouf wanted to know, yawning mightily.

"No, you guys just go back to bed. We've got it under control." He gave them a lopsided grin. "I promise to come ask if we need you!"

* * *

Jacob stepped into the children's quarters. "Kids?"

"Hi, dad!" Sam smiled at him.

"Did you get those people saved?" Martouf wondered.

"Yeah, we did." Jacob nodded. "Moved most of'em to an uninhabited planet. We've got a few of them down with the healers, though, since the Ori prior showed up and caused some problems, when we were about to leave."

"Will they be all right?" Freya asked, worried.

"Yes, I think so. However, one of them's unconscious, and she's got a little kid, so I was thinking... could you look after him until she wakes up? It won't be long, I think. The healers are working on her now. Just - keep him occupied, I guess, so he doesn't have time to worry about his mom."

"Sure, how old is he?" Daniel said.

"About five, I think. He's a bit nervous. He's never been off world before, or met any off worlders. Seems they've not used their Stargate much, and they're also a bit... uncomfortable around Tok'ra, so you better let your hosts talk, Lantash and Anise."

"Okay," Lantash said. "We'll take care of him. What's his name?"

"That's the fun thing - his name is 'Jack'."

"Jack? Isn't that odd for someone not from Earth?" Sam wondered.

Jacob shrugged. "Not really. Selmak tells me she's met other people with names like those currently in use on Earth. That _is_ where they're from originally, so I guess that isn't so strange."

* * *

"Hi, Jack. I'm Daniel," Daniel said, smiling at the boy, who was even younger than he was. "That's Sam over there." He pointed.

"Hi, Jack." Sam waved at the little boy.

"Hello Daniel, hello Sam," Jack said in a low voice, and bowed his head to them each. He looked shyly at them all.

"I am Martouf." Martouf made the traditional half-bow of the Tok'ra. "I am host to Lantash. He greets you as well."

"Uh, eh, thank you. Martouf. And... and Lantash."

"Hello, Jack. I am Freya, host to Anise."

"Hello, Freya, and Anise," Jack whispered, keeping some distance to the Tok'ra.

"You don't need to be afraid of us. We're kids, just like you," Martouf told him. "Our symbiotes are also children."

"Really?" Jack sounded surprised, and almost forgot he was afraid of them.

"Yes," Martouf assured him.

"Why are you here, with... with the Tok'ra? Did someone at-tack your world too?"

"No, we're just visiting," Daniel said.

"Well, someone sort of did, didn't they? Attack our planet, I mean." Sam frowned. "We're here because it's _dan_ -gerous for us on Earth. That's our world."

"Actually, it's not really my homeplanet. Or Lantash's. Or Freya or Anise's," Martouf explained. "We just stay there."

"I see." Jack looked very confused.

He was silent for a long time, now and then looking at them, shyly.

"What's the name of your planet?" Sam asked, trying to get him to speak.

"Edora."

"Is it a nice place?" Daniel wondered.

"Yes, I think so." Jack sat down, just staring straight ahead of himself.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm worried about my mother, and I miss my brother. Do you think my mother will be all right?" He looked anxiously at them.

"My dad thinks so, and he's usually right," Sam said.

Jack nodded. "I hope he's right this time too." He fell quiet again.

Sam, Daniel, Martouf, and Freya looked at each other. Jacob had said to keep Jack occupied. What should they do to get the boy to talk to them?

"Are you hungry?" Martouf asked.

Jack just shook his head.

"Tired?" Sam tried.

Jack again shook his head.

"Uh, maybe... tell us about your family? How old is your brother? Is he here on the base?" Daniel asked.

Jack frowned. "Garan... that is my brother... he is 23 cycles. He is married to... to Naytha. They are on the new world. Where we are going later."

"Why aren't you with them?" Martouf wondered.

"They will very soon have a new child... mother says it makes Naytha tired, so I will not tire her... and also, I wanted to be with my mother," Jack explained slowly. He suddenly looked more enthusiastic. "We went through the stone circle to come here. Have you ever gone through that? It was _very_ strange!"

"Yes, many times," Sam told him.

"It's cool, though," Daniel added, seeing that Jack looked unhappy when it turned out his experience was not something new or unique.

Sam suddenly frowned. "Edora... that's P5C-768!"

Daniel looked at her, also remembering. "The 'fire rain'. _Laira_. Jack... do you know someone called Laira?"

"Yes." He nodded. "That is my mother's name."

Sam closed her eyes. "If Jack is about five... the time fits."

"Who's your dad, Jack?" Daniel wondered. "I mean, your _father_."

"What are you talking about?" Martouf asked.

"I do not know my father. Mother said he had to leave. To fight the evil gods," Jack told them. "I am named for him!" He looked proud.

"I think we met your mother. Like, before you were born," Sam said.

Jack looked at them, disbelieving. "You are not that much older than me."

"We were then," Daniel told him.

"That does _not_ make sense," Jack insisted.

"Yes it does... but I guess it's a strange story," Sam admitted.

They began trying to explain, but soon they were interrupted by Jacob. "Your mother just woke up, Jack. She's asking for you."

* * *

Next day, Laira was feeling much better, and after talking to her son, she asked to see the 'children that were living with the Tok'ra'.

"Hello, Laira," Daniel said, smiling at her. "I'm Daniel."

"Hi!" Sam waved at her. "I'm Major Samantha Carter."

Martouf and Freya stood at the back of the room, uncertain what to say or do, as they had not met Laira before. On top of that, they had been told the people from Laira's planet were apprehensive of the Tok'ra.

Laira looked at them all for a few moments, then slowly shook her head. "My son said you had met me before, before he was born. That you know his father. How can this be so? How old are you?"

"Eight," Sam said. "And yes, we've met you before. We came to trade with your people, and then there was a lot of me-te-orites. Because your planet travels through an aste-roid belt."

"One of the Tok'ra told me you had been transformed... by some sort of alien device. That you became children again. Is that really true?"

Martouf stepped forward, nodding. "Yes. We did." He made the traditional Tok'ra greeting. "I am Martouf, host to Lantash."

"Hello Martouf, and... and Lantash." Laira looked strangely at him, then frowned, as she looked towards Sam again. "Major Samantha Carter... I think I remember... that was one of the members of SG-1. Jack O'Neill's team." She shook her head again. "It is really true?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, it's true. Me and Daniel were on SG-1, and came to your planet."

"Then... then do you know why Jack never came back to see me? He _promised_ he would." Laira suddenly looked hurt.

Sam and Daniel looked at each other, not sure what to say.

"I think he meant to, but... you know... lot's of stuff happened. We've been at war," Daniel explained.

"Yes, almost the whole time until now. We still are," Sam added.

"I'm sure Jack _wanted_ to come visit you, though," Daniel assured her.

Laira nodded slowly, clearly not fully convinced. "Perhaps." She sighed. "How is he?"

"He's all right. He's a _General_ now, and he's got an im-portant job in Washington," Daniel told her. "A General is a very im-portant man!"

"That is good. I am glad to hear he is well," Laira said, meaning it.


	15. Chapter 15

A few days later, Laira and her son, as well as the rest of the Edorans that had been wounded, were well enough to leave for their new planet.

Sam, Martouf/Lantash, Daniel, and Freya/Anise stayed on the Tok'ra outpost for several more days, before all was deemed safe enough back on Earth for them to go back there.

Jacob/Selmak followed them to Stargate Command, and then went to have a quick word with General Hammond, who was visiting at the moment.

After dropping off their stuff in their rooms, the children returned to the gateroom, to say goodbye to Jacob/Selmak. They also hoped to get to talk to Malek for a little while, before he went back to his Tok'ra base. He had ended up staying for several weeks at Stargate Command, helping to find a cure for the Prior plague.

"What's taking them so long?" Daniel wondered, checking his watch for the fourth time in ten minutes.

"Maybe there are some im-portant busi-ness they must take care off first," Sam guessed.

"There they are!" Martouf was about to run over to Malek and greet him, when Sam grabbed hold of him.

"Wait..." Sam said, studying the adults sceptically.

"Why? He's _leaving_ soon!" Martouf insisted, indignantly.

"It would seem Malek and Janet have something im- _portant_ to discuss," Anise observed.

Malek and Janet had entered the gateroom together, and were now standing close beside each other, talking, seemingly only having eyes for each other.

"Malek seems _interested_ in Janet," Daniel whispered, grinning a little.

"And it would seem Janet shares his interest," Martouf said.

"Let's hope Rhiva does too!" Daniel sounded concerned.

"I am certain she does. Host and symbiote love as one," Martouf told them.

" _Love_? Come on! They've only spent a couple weeks together! Working _clo-sely_ together..." Sam shook her head. "I think you're right. I just hope Janet and Rhiva doesn't move to the tunnels anytime soon!"

* * *

Janet/Rhiva, Malek, and Carolyn Lam had worked hard, and they had finally managed to find a cure for the Prior plague. They had not done it completely alone, though. An Ancient with the name Orlin, had descended to help them, and they probably would not have succeeded without him, at least not in time to save most of the population of Earth.

Orlin had suffered for what he had done, though. He had attempted to hold on to the Ancient knowledge, with his now mortal mind, and that had caused brain damage, and made him forget everything and everyone he had ever known. He had now been placed in a long term care facility, and it was unknown when or even if, he would ever be able to leave it.

Besides helping them find a cure to the Prior plague, Orlin had told them about the Ori, and that the Ori just _said_ they ascended people, but did not really do so. The reason for that was that they needed worship to grow stronger, and if they allowed anyone else to ascend, they would have to share the 'worship energy' with them.

In short, they were lying to their followers.

"I feel... guilty, somehow," Sam said, when she learned what had happened to Orlin.

"Why? It's not your fault, and he did what he could to help us all against the Ori," Martouf reasoned.

"Yes, That's right, but I suspect he did it... _partially_ , for me. I think he was in love with me. From when he was watching me... when I met him... years ago."

"Sam, that may or may not have influenced him. Perhaps he did it because of what he saw, when he observed you, years ago. Maybe he realized it was wrong to let us mere mortals die," Janet said. "That was, perhaps, why he cared, when the rest of the other Ancients seem not to."

Sam nodded, still feeling sad. She remembered Orlin had been sweet and kind, and that she might even have had a crush on him... but nothing more. She always suspected _he_ loved _her_ , though.

"Why isn't Jack here?" Daniel suddenly wondered. "He had _promised_ he'd be here when we came back from the Tok'ra."

"He... um, he went to talk to Laira, as soon as he heard. I think he's feeling guilty - and really wished he had visited her before," Janet explained. "He also just learned he has a son, he didn't know about."

Daniel nodded. "He told me once he considered moving to live with Laira when he retired."

"Well, his life has been pretty busy with the Goa'uld, the replicators, the Ori, and whatever other enemy decided they wanted to attack us, so I suppose he shouldn't be too hard on himself." Janet sighed, knowing it was easier said than done.

* * *

O'Neill had visited Laira and her son on the Edorans new planet, and Laira had eventually agreed that she and their son would go with him to stay at Stargate Command for a week, to see how they liked it.

They had now spent a week there, and it was time to go home to 'New Edora', as they had called their new planet.

* * *

Sam, Daniel, Martouf/Lantash, and Freya/Anise met O'Neill just after he had said goodbye to Laira and their son, when they went back to 'New Edora'.

"Will they be coming to stay here?" Daniel wondered.

"No - well, not right now, at least," O'Neill said.

"Why not? Laira's not angry at you anymore, is she?" Sam asked.

O'Neill sighed. "No... I don't think so. She seems to have forgiven me, _mostly_." He added in a low voice, "Not that I deserve it..."

"Why not, then?"

"She doesn't much like it here - and she doesn't feel it's a safe place to raise a kid. I guess I can't blame her. She's not going to be allowed outside the base much either." O'Neill said.

"So - are you going to live with them?" Daniel asked, worried.

"Maybe. Eventually, whenever I retire - and that won't be until Earth is safe from the current group of bad guys. I'll probably go live with them then, yeah. For now, I'm going to do as Teal'c did with his family - visit them whenever I have a holiday. And don't worry, I won't forget you. I'll spend half the time with you, and half with them," O'Neill promised. "Okay?"

* * *

"That was the unscheduled, off-world alert!" Sam observed, looking up from the puzzle they were doing together.

"You know they don't want us to go check what's going on. They never do. They say it's too _dan-gerous_ for us, remember?" Martouf reminded her.

"We saved them when Heqet had drugged them!" Daniel observed. "They can't complain _too_ much."

"I think they've forgotten about that," Martouf grumbled.

"If you are all going to go find out if someone is attacking the station, can I have the rest of the candy?" Anise wondered, innocently.

They had a whole bowl of candy standing between them, that Hailey had brought them earlier. She had a cousin who worked in a candy store, and he could get candy at a cheaper price.

"I wasn't saying I was going anywhere!" Sam insisted.

"No, they'll come and tell us if they need us... and if we hear nothing for a couple hours, we'll go check on them. See if they're okay," Daniel agreed.

"Okay." Martouf shrugged. "Has any of you found a puzzle piece that's green in one side, and beige otherwise? It's a bit oddly shaped..."


	16. Chapter 16

"They've been here for a couple days, and there's still no way to send them home," Janet explained to the children.

"There's really _copies_ of us visiting?" Daniel gaped at her. "From another universe? For _real_?"

"From _several_ universes... or realities, in fact," Janet said.

"Wow! _I_ went to another universe once!" Daniel reminded them.

"Copies? Of _all_ of us?" Anise asked.

"And there's no en-tropic cas... cas- _cade_ failure?" Sam wondered.

"All of you expect Anise and Freya. The guests... they're all people who are on SG-1 teams, and you're apparently not on that in any of the universes... that we've had anyone come through from, at least. The _Sams_ tell me there's an infinite number of universes, with infinite possibilities, so I'm sure you're on SG-1 in _some_ of them," Janet reassured her.

"The en-tropic cas- _cade_ failure?" Sam repeated.

Janet shook her head. "No, I've been told no one is at risk from that in this case."

Sam nodded, relaxing. "That's good."

" _I'm_ on SG-1 in some universes?" Martouf asked, disbelieving.

"Yes you are. In at least one, and probably more, yes." Janet smiled at him.

" _Awesome_!" Martouf's eyes shone with excitement.

"Can we meet them?" Sam wanted to know.

"Please say we can!" Martouf begged, eagerly. " _Please_!"

Janet looked uncertain, then nodded. "I'll ask."

* * *

"Wow, you're really me?" Sam asked, staring at the four adult Sams that had come to their room, to visit. " _All_ of you?"

Four of the Sam's had short hair, but the fourth one had a ponytail. Of the three short-haired ones, one was wearing a blue BDU, and two wore green BDUs. However, one of the Sam's in green BDU had her jacket on, whereas the other did not. Whether it was a coincidence or not, it helped the children to tell them apart.

"Well, yes..." the Sam in blue BDUs said, looking at the three other adult Sams. "Though I'll admit it sounds crazy." She grinned.

" _So_ many Samantha's!" Martouf gaped at them all.

"More like... it's crazy you're me... um, _us_." the adult Sam with a ponytail told the little Sam. "As a child."

"And that the rest of you guys have been turned into children too," the Sam with a green BDU and jack on, said, shaking her head. "Daniel... _Martouf_! Freya... what about the symbiotes?"

Martouf bowed his head, giving Lantash control. "Anise and I have become children as well." He gave them all his best, most charming smile.

"Wow, that's... really interesting. All of you... _really_ got turned into kids!" Green-BDU-with-jacket-Sam shook her head in disbelief. "In some ways this is a very different universe - despite the fact that almost everything else seems to have turned out the same or similar. Very interesting."

"Lantash... and Martouf..." the fourth of the adult Sam's, the one with green BDU and no jacket, and who had not spoken yet, took a few steps closer. "I hadn't expected _ever_ to see either of you again, but now... there's an adult Martouf and Lantash on one of the SG-1 teams, and a child-one here..."

"I'm dead in your universe?" Lantash asked, looking worried.

Sam-with-no-jacket nodded. "Yes, for more than five years." She hesitated, then swallowed. "I have a little boy... who looks _very_ much like you. I wonder how much he'll resemble Martouf when he grows up."

"You and your universe's Martouf and Lantash have a son?" Lantash asked, momentarily forgetting that he was dead in that universe.

"Yes, and I'm really happy he resembles you so much. Only real difference is that he's got quite many freckles, which is odd, since I don't have many, and Martouf didn't either. But other than that... yes, he looks a _lot_ like you." She smiled at Lantash.

"I have freckles... fairly many, actually," Lantash said.

"Really?" She looked at him in disbelief. "Where? I mean, I've obviously seen the adult version of you naked, and I've never seen any freckles!"

" _I_ have freckles. Martouf doesn't!" Lantash clarified.

"That is correct," a familiar, flanged voice said from the door opening. "I assume you are Martouf and Lantash?"

"Yes, we are," Lantash said.

He nodded. "So are we. May we join you?"

* * *

Shortly after the adult Martouf and Lantash had come to talk to the children, a few adult Daniel's joined them as well, followed by a couple adult Teal'c's and Mitchell's, who wanted to meet the child versions of their teammates.

"I am feeling left out." Anise grumbled. "I am the only one _not_ getting to meet an adult me!"

"I assure you, she is alive and well in my universe... as is Freya," adult Martouf told her.

"Thank you. I am pleased to know that. I would still have liked to meet her, though."

The other children immediately ran to give her a hug, before continuing to talk to the adult versions of themselves.

"How is it to have Mitchell as your leader?" Daniel asked one of the adult Daniels.

"Different than to have Jack as your leader." The adult Daniel grinned. "Well, alike in some ways, different in others. Different humour - just as bad, though."

One of the Teal'c's raised an eyebrow. "I would have to agree."

"Why does that make me feel bad?" one of the Mitchell's asked, only half-serious. "Come on, guys... should it?"

"It should not. You are a competent warrior," Teal'c said.

"See? Now I _know_ I've done something wrong!" Mitchell complained. "They're driving me crazy! I mean, it's not like I can order any of them to _do_ anything! Teal'c's an alien, Jackson is a civilian, and Sam's the same rank as I am!"

"I'm a _Colonel_ in your reality?" Sam gaped.

"Lieutenant Colonel. But yes, you are... or _we_ are," blue-BDU-Sam said, with some amusement, indicating herself and the three other adult Sam's.

"Wow! I've got something to look forward to when I grown up again!" Sam exclaimed.

"You've got a _lot_ to look forward to," Lantash whispered to her, "Just look at how _handsome_ I'll be as an adult!"

Sam rolled her eyes at him. "I've _already_ met you as an adult, so I _know_ , okay?"

"I just wanted to remind you." Lantash smiled, pleased that she had - almost - admitted she had found him attractive, when they were adults.

* * *

"What do you mean, you're no longer together with Samantha?" Martouf asked, getting an unhappy expression.

The other children had left with the adult SG-members, except for Martouf/Lantash, who had wanted to talk some more with the adult version of themselves, from another universe.

"In my universe, we were together for some time, but we're not, any longer."

"Why? _Why_ would you leave her? I mean, you told me you had _moved_ to the world of the Tau'ri to be closer to her, and even gotten on SG-1!" Martouf looked completely uncomprehending.

"We didn't leave her. She... left us. For someone else. She is currently on maternity leave, after giving birth to her first child." He noticed Martouf getting distressed. "You are hoping Samantha will be your mate, when you are all grown? Do not be concerned. Your experiences here are very different, and if you and Samantha do become mates when you grow up, it is unlikely things will go as they did in my universe."

Martouf nodded, then bowed his head, giving Lantash control.

"Perhaps you need some advice?"

"Advice?" Martouf smiled at the boy.

"Yes. Maybe you didn't know Samantha well enough. I know her very well. I can tell you what she likes."

"Um, that is.. _thoughtful_ of you."

"She likes roller blades, but you can't tell her to slow down and be careful, even if she is going full speed through the corridors. She also likes to play ball - and you should always remember to share your LEGO with her. Oh, and she e- _spe_ -cially likes little radio-con-trolled toys. And blue jello... and chocolate cake."

The adult Martouf did not know what all of the things mentioned were, but he realized enough to know it would probably not help him win back his Samantha. "Chocolate cake and blue jello? I knew of the blue jello, but she has never mentioned the chocolate cake. I shall... remember that."

The child Lantash nodded. "Who is she with? O'Neill, right? I always suspected him of being interested in Samantha. You should tell him to talk to a woman he met on Edora. Her name is Laira. He actually has a child with her, but didn't know until some weeks ago. Maybe he will leave Samantha for her? If he likes her in your universe too?"

"I do not know if he has met this woman, but I shall inform him of how things are in your universe. He may appreciate it. True, we have not always gotten along, and I do share your assumption that he may have had feelings for Samantha. Indeed, I have learned they are together in some of the other realities. However, Samantha is not with him in my universe, she is with Janet... Doctor Fraiser."

Lantash gaped at him for a moment. "Janet? I never noticed any sort of ro-mantic interest between them. _Really_? Things went much diffe-rent in your universe..." He got a worried expression. "Or... is this, perhaps, a rival I must be on guard for when we grow up?"

Adult Martouf looked distant for a few moments, obviously talking to his Lantash. Then he shrugged. "It is true that some things are different in our two realities, though most seems to be the same. All the _people_ seems to be the same, just with some different experiences. However, I do not believe you need to worry about Janet being a rival in your universe. The events seems to have already caused the timelines to diverge too much."

He dipped his head, giving Lantash control.

"What happened was this... a couple years ago, Janet was badly injured on a mission. She barely survived, and Samantha spent much time with her, taking care of her. At first, she did it to help Cassandra, but later Samantha and Janet fell in love," adult Lantash said.

"But... Janet is on _SG-1_ in your universe! With _you_! Isn't that hard?"

"It was... _awkward_ , at first," adult Lantash admitted. "But we are on friendly terms now - which is fortunate, as Samantha and I are still friends. There is also the child."

"Yes, you said... that Samantha is on ma-terni-ty leave. Who is the father?"

"I am. Samantha asked me if I would father her and Janet's child. Martouf and I discussed it for some time - we were still feeling hurt that she had left us. These things... feelings... are complicated, however, we eventually agreed that we would do it." He sighed. "There is little danger from the Goa'uld any longer, so even if the child has genetic memory, it will not be a threat to the Tok'ra." He suddenly smiled. "Despite our uncertainties at first, it now pleases Martouf and I greatly, that we have a child with Samantha."

Child-Lantash nodded, then looked distant for a moment, discussing with Martouf. "Actually, we agree that Janet here will not be a rival for us... and we believe we know how you can handle this rival in your universe. Has Janet met Malek?"

Adult Lantash smiled at the boy-version of himself, and how eager he was to help. "Malek? No I don't think so."

"You _must_ introduce them." Child-Lantash grinned. "After spending only a little time together, Janet looked _very_ interested... and Malek too. We believe they are on their way to become mates."

Adult Lantash hesitated. "I do not believe I should interfere. Samantha would be angry, and rightfully so, if I tried to use Malek to lure her mate away."

" _Your_ mate was lured away! Besides, Malek is your friend, right? Then it makes sense he visits you. Perhaps you want him to meet the child - it's _your_ child too. Then... just find an excuse for him to spend time with Janet." The boy looked sneaky, then got a serious expression. "You know... I think they are soul mates. It would be _wrong_ to keep them from each other. Just as keeping you and Martouf from your Samantha is wrong."

Adult Lantash took a deep breath and seemed to think it over - or more likely discussing it with Martouf. "It may not be as simple as you think... and we are still unsure of how _ethical_ it would be... but we will consider it."


	17. Chapter 17

It was early April, and outside spring had come, with flowers, green leaves, and hope. Inside Stargate Command there was little hope. A fleet comprised of all the ships the Free Jaffa, Tau'ri, Tok'ra, and the Lucian Alliance had been able to scramble together - and even one Asgard ship - had fought the Ori. Fought the Ori and _lost_ , bitterly.

The Ori had then began a 'holy crusade', to 'purify the galaxy of evil'.

Vala had been found to be alive, and she had given birth to a baby girl, the _Orici_ , who was genetically altered by the Ori to quickly grown up and then command their forces.

All attempts to destroy the Ori fleet had failed, but Vala had been rescued from the Ori - though the Orici was left behind, still leading them.

Planet after planet fell to the Ori, but on Earth, everything appeared completely normal and safe. Safe enough that O'Neill, Teal'c, and Janet/Rhiva decided it was not too risky to take a short vacation with the children, who had been cooped up inside a base - where almost all adults were stressed and overworked - for months.

SG-1 had had a few hard missions, and were currently on a couple of days stand-down, as were Janet and Rhiva. Even O'Neill had managed to get a little time off, reasoning there was little anyone in Washington could do about the Ori situation, currently.

Actually, there was little anyone could do, except wait until more information about the Ori had been gathered, and better weapons had been acquired.

* * *

"Ready to go on a trip?" O'Neill asked, smiling.

"Yaaaay!" Sam, Daniel, Martouf, and Anise exclaimed as one.

"Got all you want to bring, packed?" Janet wondered.

"It's just a few days, Janet - they don't need to bring a lot of crap," O'Neill observed.

"Don't say _that_! What will you do when you're sitting there in the afternoon and it's raining, and the children can't go out and play or something. It's always good to bring a few toys."

O'Neill nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right of course. Sorry. So, ya got whatever toys ya wanna bring?"

"Yes," Anise said, with confidence.

"Why is Teal'c not here?" Daniel wanted to know.

"He's picking up the car. He'll be here in a moment."

" _Car_? You said we weren't going to drive all the way. Washington is _so_ far away!" Sam complained.

"We're _not_ driving all the way! We just have to get to the airport, okay?" O'Neill said.

"Why do we have to fly in a Tau'ri airplane? I've seen them on tv. They are _unsafe_!" Martouf complained.

"How _else_ are we gonna fly there?" Daniel wondered.

"Teltac. I'm sure Malek or Jacob or someone else would be _happy_ to bring one here, just so we can avoid the danger of Tau'ri aircraft!" Martouf insisted.

"Don't worry, honey. Airplanes are quite safe." Janet assured him. "Safer than cars, actually."

"That's not a good comparison. Cars are _not_ safe! At _all_!" Martouf said.

"Sweetheart. We'll all be just fine. Okay? Are we ready to go?" she said, spotting Teal'c.

"Hm." Martouf did not look convinced, but followed the others to the car.

* * *

"Now, stay close, don't run off to look at something. Don't argue with the security people. Don't _touch_ anything - and that goes for you, too, Daniel!" O'Neill warned. "Anise, Lantash... use host voices. _All_ the time in the airport and on the plane - and in busses, taxis, metro, museums... and all other places with people we don't know. Okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. You've told us. Like a gazillion times before." Martouf grumbled. Lantash was very upset and nervous about the upcoming flight, and it was making Martouf irritable. Especially since he shared his symbiote's trepidation.

All the children did as they were told, and put the contents of their pockets into the trays, then put the trays on the conveyor belt together with the small bags they had brought as carry-on luggage.

Freya/Anise looked on as the conveyor belt took their things into a large box, then seemingly kept them in there.

"What is happening to my stuff, Jack?" Freya asked. "Is it being destroyed in that box?"

"No, don't worry. It comes out on the other side. Now, don't keep up the line. Do you have anything else containing metal, that you didn't put in the tray?"

Freya frowned. "My blood?"

O'Neill grinned. "You get to keep that - just go through that portal, okay? The rest of us will follow."

"It is not like the Asgard Hammer devices, is it?" Freya asked, very concerned.

"What do you mean?" O'Neill suddenly realized what she was afraid of. " _No_ , Freya, don't worry. It's _nothing_ like that at all. It's safe for both you and Anise."

Freya nodded, and did as he told her, eyeing the portal skeptically as she walked through it.

Martouf/Lantash studied closely what went on, and when nothing bad happened to Freya and Anise, Martouf walked through it, holding his breath. He looked very relieved when Lantash told him the portal had not attempted to harm either of them.

* * *

"Okay, we've got about two hours before the plane leaves. Anyone hungry?" O'Neill asked.

"Finding some sort of nourishment would be most agreeable to me," Teal'c answered.

" _I_ am hungry!" Daniel said, immediately.

"So am I - and Lantash," Martouf proclaimed.

"Me, too! But I need to use the bathroom first!" Sam looked slightly desperate.

"Anise says we do not need food, but I think I would like some," Freya told them, slowly.

"I need to pee also," Martouf said.

"Okay. Bathroom trip first, then we'll find some place to eat," O'Neill decided.

"I'm not sure it's going to be easy to find healthy food here." Janet frowned as she looked at the nearby restaurants. "Perhaps we could just eat some fruit, and then wait until we get to Washington, before eating anything more?"

"That's three hours, almost - on _top_ of the two hours wait here... and whatever time it takes to get to our hotel! We're on vacation. The food doesn't _need_ to be healthy," O'Neill said, then added, when he saw Janet's expression. "Not _all_ the time, right?"

"I suppose we might make an exception, this _one_ time..."

* * *

"What about _that_ place?" Sam suggested.

"Yes. What that man is eating looks good." Martouf agreed, pointing at a man who was eating tacos.

"It's not polite to point, Martouf!" Sam told him.

"I don't feel like Mexican food right now," O'Neill said, "What about that grill? Steak and fries?"

"That would be acceptable," Teal'c agreed.

"Pizza?" Daniel suggested.

"We had pizza yesterday," Freya reminded him. "We can get hot dogs over there." She pointed to a food shop some distance away.

"I _like_ pizza," Daniel said. "I can eat it _every_ day."

Janet looked at the restaurants available. "I believe that restaurant over there would have the healthiest food." She indicated a nicer looking place.

"It looks expensive, and it probably takes them forever to make your food," O'Neill said, hoping to dissuade Janet. He really felt like steak, fries, and a beer.

Janet smiled at him, guessing what his issue was. "I'm sure they've got steaks in there too... and we're not in any hurry."

"Probably _smaller_ steaks..." O'Neill sighed. "Okay, you win. Nice restaurant it is!"

* * *

"This _airplane_ seems unsafe!" Martouf sounded close to desperation, clinging to the armrests. "It is _shaking_!"

"It's only a little turbulence, honey. Nothing to worry about!" Janet assured him.

"I've been through _much_ worse!" Sam told him. "As a pilot in... a fighter jet."

"You can fly this airplane?" Martouf asked.

"Easily, I am sure!" Sam boasted.

"I can fly a teltac - and an alkesh. And a ha'tak," Martouf said.

"Will you teach me?" Sam asked, enviously.

"Of course!" He released his seat belt and stood up in the seat, calling out to O'Neill who sat in the seat in front of him. "O'Neill, if you ask Malek for a teltac, then I shall fly it, and we do not have to fly in primitive, _dangerous_ Tau'ri vessels!"

" _Quiet_ , Martouf!" O'Neill hissed. "Remember what we talked about? The things you're not supposed to mention?"

"Yes. Sorry." Martouf looked bashful.

"And sit _down_! During turbulence like this, you risk falling! Buckle your belt!"

Martouf nodded. "Of course." He sat down and fastened the seat belt.

They were quiet for a few minutes.

"There's really three _hours_ before we land?" Daniel said, with a long-suffering expression.

"No, there were three hours when we left... almost. Right, Jack?" Freya asked. "Now there is probably only, like, two hours and thirty minutes?"

"Two hours and fifteen minutes," Teal'c informed them.

"My ears still feel funny," Daniel said, starting to thump his hand against his left ear.

"Her, sweetheart. Chew on this." Janet gave him a piece of chewing gum, she took from her bag.

"Can I have a piece too?" Martouf asked.

"And me?" Freya added.

"Also me?" Sam begged.

"Here you go - share it nicely." Janet gave them the rest of the package. "Oh, in the airport I got you these colouring books and crayons to pass the time." She rummaged around in the bag she had gotten at the airport. "There's a couple different kinds, so pick the one you like."

"Oh, I want the 'dragons and mythological creatures'!" Freya said, excitedly.

"Here you go." Janet smiled at her, handing her the colouring book and a box of crayons.

"What are the other ones you have?" Sam asked.

"Let's see..."

"Do you have any more with dragons?" Daniel wanted to know.

"No, sorry. They didn't have very many left to pick from, and only one left of each," Janet said, apologetically. "There's one with 'Knights and medieval castles'."

"Nah, don't want that." Daniel shook his head.

"I would like that one," Sam said.

Janet handed her the book and crayons, then held up the last two. "'Wild animals', or 'Ancient Egypt'".

"I'll take the one with animals. I don't want a book with pictures of Goa'uld and their culture!" Martouf insisted.

"But I don't want a colouring book about ancient Egypt! I know _way_ more than the idiot who made that book!" Daniel exclaimed.

"What do you think I do?" Martouf said.

"You're an alien, you've never even _been_ to Egypt!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Lantash's grandmother lived in Egypt for millennia! He has a _bunch_ of her memories, and I can just have him show me _anything_ I want to know. Better than anything humans have _guessed_ millennia later!" Martouf insisted.

"Okay. Time to shut up now. Both of you - or you're not going with the rest of us to the museum tomorrow... _and_ you get no dinner!" O'Neill said, angrily. "Daniel... take the book about ancient Egypt, and let Martouf have the one with the animals. I can see the names of the animals are written above them, and he probably needs to learn their names more than you do!"

Daniel grabbed the colouring book and his crayons, and stuck out his tongue at Martouf, then opened the book and studiously ignored the other boy.

Martouf snorted and took the last of the colouring books, as well as the last box of crayons, and opened the book to the first page. He looked at a picture of an animal that was called a 'kangaroo'. He was certain he had never seen one of those before, and Lantash assured him he had no knowledge of the creature either. After a short discussion about the possible colouring of the animal, Martouf gave control to Lantash, who determinedly picked a dark blue crayon and began colouring.


	18. Chapter 18

"Welcome to Washington, kids!" O'Neill smiled.

"Do we go to the museum now?" Freya asked.

"No, not until tomorrow. It's almost 7PM. The museum is closed. We're just going to go to the hotel, then get some food, before it's time to sleep."

"How can it be 7PM? It was just before 2PM when we left on the airplane, and you said it only to around 3 hours!" Freya sounded skeptical.

"There's a time difference of two hours between Washington and Colorado Springs. I can show you on a map - or Sam can explain it to you," O'Neill said.

Freya frowned, then nodded. "No, I do understand. The sun will rise later, the further to the west on the planet you go."

"Smart kid." O'Neill smiled, ruffling her hair. "Come on guys, let's get our luggage and see if we can figure out how to get to our hotel."

* * *

"Wow, 'National Air and Space Museum'! I've never been here before, but I've wanted to, _often_!" Daniel said.

"I've been here many times before!" Sam told him.

"I did not think you were interested in space, Daniel?" Freya wondered.

"I'm interested in the _history_ of space ex-ploration."

"This place tells the tale of how spaceflight developed on your world?" Martouf asked.

O'Neill nodded. "Yes, and there's several old spacecraft and stuff, too! I love the place!"

"I look forward to learning more about the Tau'ri exploration of space." Teal'c said. "However, I was under the impression you had only recently become capable of travelling faster than the speed of light?"

"Yeah, and there's nothing about that in here. Officially, we're _not_ able to do that. Remember that - all of you," O'Neill warned, in a low voice.

"Jacob told me you had merely taken a Goa'uld craft and 'slapped a US air force sticker on it and called it yours.' Is that not correct?" Martouf wanted to know.

"No!" Sam exclaimed. "We did _lots_ more! Put on different weapons, took out some stuff..."

"Of course, if it's the X-301 you're talking about, it didn't have hyper space capability, but it _did_ have an Apophis-call-home thingie," Daniel observed.

"Yeah, please don't remind me of that!" O'Neill groaned.

"We've constructed _much_ better spaceships after that, based on technology we got from a vessel some Goa'uld was building here on Earth, combined with what we've learned from the Goa'uld ships we've studied... and, stuff... also something we got from the Asgaard, I think?" Sam said, not completely certain. She had followed the development of spaceships, after being de-aged, as best she could, but she was only 8, and it was not always easy. Especially since she did not have clearance for everything.

Martouf bowed his head, giving Lantash control.

"So you _took_ technology from other species and used it to construct your own spacecrafts?" he said, remembering to use Martouf's voice.

"Yeah, well, I guess... but why reinvent stuff that others have already done?" Sam defended them.

"But that's what the Goa'uld does!" Lantash exclaimed.

"Hey, that's not fair! We invent stuff ourselves, too! It's just that we were lots behind, and needed to catch up quickly, before the Goa'uld took our planet!" Sam said, angrily.

"Okay. Stop it! Didn't you hear what I said before? About the things we were _not_ going to discuss? If you continue, we're not going into the museum at all!" O'Neill warned.

"Sorry," Sam said, immediately.

"We'll be nice," Lantash added.

"Promise!" Daniel said.

"Yes, promise!" Freya chimed in as well.

* * *

"Your as-tra-nau _thicians_ must be very brave," Freya observed, looking at the old Apollo lunar module. "That thing looks incredibly unsafe and dangerous."

"It's as- _tro_ nauts, and they are! But they didn't fly to the Moon in that. They used a rocket, somewhat like that one." Sam pointed. "Of course, that was a _long_ time ago. We have space shuttles now!"

"I see." Martouf frowned, studying the rockets.

"Come, there's a whole ex-hibit about the history of flight, from the very first balloons, _all_ the way to spacecraft. You need to know the history!" Sam said, excitedly. "It's _awesome_!"

"That's a good idea - then you get to see airplanes up close, and can see how they are put together," O'Neill noted. "That might help for next time we're flying."

"Even though the ones they have in here are generally quite old, and not nearly as safe as the ones we have today." Janet added, quickly, afraid the children would refuse to board a plane again after seeing the old planes up close.

* * *

The trip to the 'National Air and Space Museum' had been a great success, even if it had not convinced Martouf and Lantash that airplanes were safe. Also, unsurprisingly, the Tok'ra found the Tau'ri inventions to be primitive. Still, the children - and the adults - had all enjoyed the experience, and found it very interesting.

The weather was very nice the next day, and they spent much of the day relaxing and playing in one of Washington's many parks. In the evening, they went to see a movie - "Ice Age: the Meltdown".

"Can we have popcorn, please?" Martouf begged.

"And soda?" Sam looked at first O'Neill, then Teal'c, and finally Janet/Rhiva with a hopeful expression.

"Skittles! We've gotta have skittles!" Daniel insisted.

"Sure, of course we'll have snacks and soda!" O'Neill smiled. "What about you, Freya. Is there anything in particular you would like?"

"One of those cute, fluffy stuffed animals. Either the elephant or the brown one with a fluffy tail."

"I meant something to drink, or snacks, or something... but I guess you can have a toy instead, if you want," O'Neill said.

"I think it's supposed to be a squirrel," Janet observed. "Or maybe a rat. Would you like one of those?"

"They look _insane_!" Daniel insisted. "Why would you want something like that?"

Freya threw Daniel an unhappy look. "Yes. I would like a squirrel!"

"Can I have a stuffed animal too?" Sam asked.

"Lantash wants one also," Martouf told them.

"I want one too!" Daniel said, suddenly.

"I thought you said they looked insane?" Freya teased.

"Not all of them... some of them look... funny," Daniel admitted.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at him, but did not say anything. O'Neill just grinned.

"Well... I guess you can have one each, since we're on holiday," Janet finally decided.

* * *

"So, did you like the movie?" O'Neill asked, when they came out from the movie theatre.

"Yes! It was _great_!" Daniel said, eagerly.

"I felt sorry for Manny, being the only woolly mammoth in the _whole_ world. It was great he wasn't really alone," Sam mused.

"Did you really have sabre-toothed tigers on this planet? Do they exist?" Martouf asked, looking at his own stuffed version of that creature.

"They _did_ exist, but they don't anymore. Not for many, many years," Janet told him.

"Those two possum brothers... Crash and Eddie... they were _fun_!" Freya said, excitedly.

Janet smiled at the children's happiness. "I'm glad you liked the movie!"

* * *

The next day they were going to the "International Spy Museum". Normally, 8 years was perhaps a bit younger than what was considered an optimal age to understand the exhibitions, given the amount of text there was to read, and the interactive displays. However, Sam, Daniel, Martouf/Lantash, and Freya/Anise were hardly typical kids, and would easily be able to read, understand, and participate in everything.

"Ohh, it says to 'adopt a cover i- _dentity_ and learn why an agent needs one'," Martouf read aloud from a sign. "Well, I _already_ know! I've got a few covers to choose between already! And Lantash has more!"

"It also says 'pro-ceed directly to the _BriefingFilm_ where you'll come face to face with the real world of spying.' I _really_ look forward to hearing how their idea compares to that of an undercover Tok'ra!" Freya said.

"Hm... 'Spies are mo-tivated for very dif-ferent reasons.'" Martouf continued reading the sign out loud. "...'What might mo-tivate you? Pa-trio-tism? Mo _ney_? A com-pro-mising situation? Your own ego?' Are these people crazy? There is only one reason! Fighting evil o-pres-sors!" he said, indignantly. "Why would they think I'd do it for my own gain?"

"Some humans might... on Earth," O'Neill explained.

"Remember, they don't know about the Tok'ra and the Goa'uld, honey," Janet added, in a low voice.

"Hrmph," Martouf snorted.

"They've also got a 'School for Spies'! Maybe you can learn something you can use next time you go under-cover!" Daniel suggested.

Martouf gave Lantash control.

He spoke, thankfully hiding the distortion, despite clearly feeling insulted. "I _highly_ doubt the Tok'ra can learn _anything_ from the Tau'ri in these matters! We've been doing this for almost two mil-lennia!"

"I'm sure you know much better than these people," Sam said, soothingly. She gave him a hug.


	19. Chapter 19

Despite the occasional - somewhat condescending - comment from the Tok'ra, the visit to the museum went well, and both the children and the adults had fun. Freya/Anise and Martouf/Lantash even admitted that some of the things humans had done to spy on each other were quite ingenious - like the ways spy cameras had been hidden, or the ways tool kits and other equipment could be hidden or made to appear like something completely harmless. They had also enjoyed the 'secret' history behind many historical events, and how the spy-craft had developed over the years.

They had spent many hours at the museum, and it was late afternoon when they got as far as the museum shop.

"Okay, kids, you can each have for 20 dollars from in here!" O'Neill told the children.

"Can I have a t-shirt that says 'Beware of ninjas?'" Sam begged. "It would be _awesome_... especially the blue one... and a ninja headband!"

"The t-shirt... maybe, but the headband? It's just a headband with a little embroidery on. Don't you think we could make something like that ourselves? Like a fun project when we come back?" Janet suggested.

"I can't em- _broi_ der," Sam stated.

"Have you tried? Otherwise, I'm sure we could decorate it in some other way. Maybe glue some stars on it. What do you say?"

"But I think _this_ one is awesome... I don't think we can make something that looks the _same_!" Sam complained, getting a stubborn look.

Janet sighed, then looked at the headband again. "Well, I guess you can have it. It's only 3 dollars."

"Haha... don't you want that one?" Daniel pointed to a t-shirt with a text which read 'You Don't Know Jack!'

"That would be a good choice, O'Neill. For when you say something deep that others do not immediately comprehend," Teal'c observed.

"Deep? _Me_?" O'Neill snorted. "Teal'c... there's more than one way to read it, and I'm sure people will take it the wrong way!" He got a speculative look. "But I kinda like it."

"I think the colour is _just_ right for you," Janet told him, grinning.

"Yeah, yeah... having fun at my expense. Well, I don't care - I'm going to take it!" He grabbed a t-shirt in his size.

"Can I have a 'Deny Everything' t-shirt?" Daniel asked.

"Absolutely... what did you do this time, which you need to deny?" O'Neill smiled at him.

"I didn't do _anything_. I never do!" Daniel insisted.

"Hah," O'Neill scoffed, still smiling.

"I'd like one of these! It looks _awesome_!" Martouf said, picking up a pen from a basket, and reading the text on the note. "Try it, O'Neill!"

"Don't you think it'll write? I'll see if there's some paper somewhere, so we can test it..." He took the pen and looked around, then finally took out the receipt from when they paid for entrance. He clicked the top-button, then made a yelp, dropping the pen.

Martouf almost fell over laughing. "Your expression! _So_ fun!"

"What's wrong?" Janet asked, surprised.

O'Neill swore. "The damn pen gives you a shock when you turn it on! A fairly hard jolt, too!" He suddenly grinned. "I know _exactly_ what I could use these for... next time we've got visitors from the IOA, or something..."

"Jack, that's _not_ a good idea," Janet warned. "And that wasn't nice, Martouf!"

"Sorry." Martouf looked down, and got a bashful expression.

"No, it's a great idea... and I'm not angry, Martouf. None of you have any idea how it is to be in Washington, and work for Homeworld security. The _meetings_ we're forced to participate in! I'm going to get myself a handful of these - they're bound to make things a _bit_ more interesting!"

"That means I can have one?" Martouf asked, looking happy.

"Absolutely! They're even cheap!" O'Neill picked up several from the basket, smiling gleefully, while Janet shook her head, and Teal'c just raised an eyebrow.

"Can I have this too?" Martouf held up an 'invisible ink and UV spy pen'.

"Sure, and you've even still got 10 dollars left for something else," O'Neill said, still grinning gleefully over the pens.

"Oh, the spy night scope then!" Martouf exclaimed.

"Ah, that's two dollars too expensive," Janet pointed out.

Martouf was quiet for a few moments. "Lantash says I can have two dollars from him!"

O'Neill shrugged. "Okay, then. Fine with me."

Martouf gave Lantash control, and the symbiote started looking for what he wanted.

"I want those walkie-talkies - they're even three dollars _less_ than what I have left after giving Martouf two dollars!"

"Okay. What about you, Freya? Anise?" O'Neill asked.

"Hm, I think I want this... it says it can transform my voice if I speak into it!" She turned on the device and spoke into it - and sounded more or less like Anise. "Cool!"

"But you can _already_ talk like that!" O'Neill pointed out.

"No, Anise can. I _cannot_!"

"Yeah, okay, but wouldn't you rather have something else?"

Freya looked speculative. "Maybe... after all, this device _does not_ make my voice sound completely like Anise's." She walked around looking at things for a little while. "I would like this game... it sounds fun." She held up a board game, where you pretended to be spies, that had to outwit one another.

Anise got control, and went directly for two things, which she had noticed while Freya looked for what she wanted.

"I would like these." Anise held up a small camera on a stalk, and a small motion detector alarm.

"Great, we've all got what we want, then? Janet? Teal'c?" O'Neill wondered.

"I have chosen a few items, which should prove entertaining," Teal'c said.

"I don't think I want anything from in here today." Janet smiled. "It's been fun, though."

* * *

"What are we doing today?" Sam asked, when they had eaten breakfast the next day.

"We are going to the 'National Zoo'," Janet said.

"Then you can get to see how a kangaroo looks!" Daniel grinned, elbowing Lantash in the side. "Hint... it's _not_ blue!"

Lantash rolled his eyes. "You already told me. _Twice_! However, I _do_ look forward to seeing this creature - and several others."

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, so do I. Zoo's are _fun_!"

"They've got _pandas_ , right?" Sam asked.

"Yes, they do," O'Neill confirmed, smiling at her enthusiasm.

"What are pandas?" Freya wondered.

"Bear-like, black-and-white animals. They're _adorable_!" Sam gushed. "And they've got a panda cub that's, like 9-10 months old. I've seen _pictures_ of it!"

* * *

" _That_ is a panda?" Freya asked, wrinkling her brow. "It just looks like a bear someone dyed!"

"I _told_ you they were bear-like!" Sam looked annoyed.

"Where's the kangaroos? You said there were kangaroos!" Martouf complained.

"Yeah, seems I was wrong," O'Neill admitted, looking in the folder they had gotten at the kiosk. "I thought for sure they would have some."

"I've got a book with pictures of animals at home - I'll show you a photo of a kangaroo then!" Janet promised.

"Thank you... but that's not the _same,_ " Martouf grumbled.

"Let's go look at the big cats? Please?" Daniel said, eagerly. "I want to see the tigers and the lions!"

* * *

"Oh, let's go into the small mammal house!" Sam pointed. "They've got prairie dogs, mongooses, meerkats, and naked mole-rats! And lots and lots of other cute animals! I read it in the folder before!"

"Naked mole-rats aren't cute!" Daniel said. "I saw them in Ethiopia, when I went there once."

"What's naked mole-rats?" Martouf asked.

"Ugly naked rodents, with huge teeth," Daniel told him.

"They're _interesting_! They're mammals, but they have a queen and workers, like bees, you know! And they're cold-blooded, like reptiles!" Sam explained, eagerly.

"And they're ugly..." Daniel repeated. "But fortunately they live in tunnels underground, so you've got to be _really_ unlucky to see them."

Sam stuck out her tongue at him. " _I_ think they're _cool_!"

Daniel shrugged. "Okay. Then you go have fun with them - the rest of us can look at the little monkeys and meerkats and stuff!"

* * *

After spending several hours wandering around the zoo, and looking at all kinds of animals, they had all gotten hungry. There were several dining places to choose from, and they ended up eating grilled chicken sandwiches from something called the 'Mane Grill'.

"What is that?" Freya asked, looking out the windows, when they were about to leave the restaurant. "The children are walking around inside the _enclosures!_ _Touching_ the animals!"

"Oh, can we go there too?" Daniel begged.

"It says 'Kids' Farm' over there on the sign!" Martouf informed them, pointing. "Does that mean they lock up children in there?" He shuddered.

"No, it's a place where kids can go to meet the animals up close - pet them, and maybe pick them up," Janet explained

"Then we can go there, right?" Sam asked. "They've got _alpacas_!"

"Sure, of course you can." Janet smiled.

"Just be careful the goats doesn't eat your clothes," O'Neill warned, remembering the last time he went into something like that. He had already spotted a goat that he felt was looking hungrily at his pants. Well, _he_ was not going to go in there!

"I shall accompany you," Teal'c said.

They walked over to the entrance, and went inside. Martouf looked cautiously at one of the goats, then gave Lantash control.

"Oooh, _look,_ a cute rabbit! Like 'Mr. Fluffy'!" Freya cooed, thinking of the stuffed toy she had at home.

"The little goat-kids are cute," Lantash admitted, using Martouf's voice. "Can I pick one up?"

"Hey! It's eating my t-shirt!" Sam complained, trying to push one of the goats aside. It did not budge, and just pulled more of the clothing into its mouth. "Help?"


	20. Chapter 20

The rest of the visit to the zoo went well - though Sam's t-shirt was now missing a piece at the bottom, where the goat had managed to eat from it. She was not happy about that, but at least it had not been her new t-shirt from the 'International Spy Museum'. That would have been _much_ worse!

They stayed in Washington for a few days more, visiting museums and other attractions, before travelling back to Colorado Springs. The journey was done by airplane again, and the extra knowledge of the history and development of flight, did not make Martouf and Lantash feel safer!

They were very relieved when they landed safely, and were home in Colorado Springs.

* * *

The spring and early summer passed slowly. With renewed activity from the Trust, the children had to stay on base, and were only allowed to take rare trips outside.

With the Ori threat increasing, visiting the Tok'ra bases, or otherwise going offworld, were also something they rarely dared risk letting the children do, with the only exception being their birthday. That had once again been held at the base Jacob and Selmak were stationed at.

Sam, Daniel, Freya, and Martouf were now nine years old, while Lantash and Anise were five. In another 2-3 years, the majority of the symbiotes genetic memories would begin to surface and become accessible, and with that usually came very bad nightmares.

However, that would not happen for some years yet, and Lantash and Anise soon stopped worrying about it again, and went back to enjoying their summer holiday.

* * *

"I just met Hailey! SG-1 is on their way out to check on an alkesh that's just crashed!" Daniel said, excitedly.

"An alkesh?" Martouf asked. "Who's in it?"

"They don't know! No one answered when they contacted them!"

"Maybe it is the Ori coming to attack us here." Anise shuddered.

"In an _alkesh_? That's unlikely!" Martouf exclaimed.

"I agree," Sam said. "But there's not many Goa'uld left."

"There's thousands and thousands!" Martouf told her. "Just... most are really minor..."

"And then there are those who are still in Jaffa," Anise added. "The Goa'uld are far from gone."

"I very much hope the Tok'ra are keeping an eye on all of those!" Daniel said, suddenly worried.

"I'm sure someone is doing that - _even_ with the Ori keeping everyone busy," Martouf remarked.

"So... you think it's a Goa'uld? Or a Jaffa? Not a Tok'ra, right?" Daniel asked.

"Not if they didn't answer when they were hailed." Martouf insisted. "Probably a Jaffa... or maybe a minor Goa'uld."

"Why would they come here?" Sam wondered.

"Maybe they're on the run?" Martouf suggested.

"Or hoping to make a deal?" Daniel guessed.

"There _is_ one major Goa'uld left..." Martouf observed.

They all looked at each other, and said at the same time. " _Ba'al_!"

* * *

It turned out to _actually_ be Ba'al, and he was taken to Stargate Command and placed in a holding cell. When SG-1 interrogated him, he claimed that the many clones he had made, had turned on him, and were now out to kill him.

He insisted he knew how to help Stargate Command find a powerful Ancient weapon, made by Merlin, which could be used to kill the Ori. In return, SG-1 and the other SG teams were to capture Ba'al's many clones.

Unsurprisingly, everyone was skeptical of Ba'al, and doubted he could be trusted. Things only got more problematic when Agent Barrett from the NID showed up, demanding to have Ba'al handed over to them.

* * *

"I thought the NID was gone and had become the Trust?" Daniel asked.

"No." Hailey shook her head. "The Trust have some former NID people, but they're not the same organization. The NID still has some bad apples, but the Trust is _all_ bad - and infiltrated by the Goa'uld... Ba'al, now. The NID thinks they can get some information from Ba'al, to use to bring down the Trust."

"I don't trust the NID," Sam said, with finality.

"Don't worry, I don't think any of us have any great love for them. Anyway, Landry is stalling the NID, for now, so we're going Ba'al clone hunting."

"Do you need our help?" Martouf asked, eagerly. "The Tok'ra got a _lot_ of experience hunting Goa'uld!"

"I think we can manage." Hailey smiled. "We've got Sokolf, you know - but I promise, if we've got any problems, we'll come and ask you!"

* * *

With several SG teams working, they soon had more than 20 Ba'al clones locked up at Stargate Command.

The children were sitting in their room, playing a game, when the door suddenly opened. Outside stood Sokolf and Hailey.

"Come on, kids! We gotta get you out of here!" Hailey told them.

"Why, what's going on?" Sam wondered.

"Not now. We're in a hurry!" Hailey said.

"The Ba'al's have escaped," Sokolf told them.

"We're locking down the base and trying to re-capture them, but until we do, it's not safe here! Come on!"

The children did as they were told, and followed Hailey and Sokolf.

"Can't you just shoot them?" Daniel wondered, as Hailey pushed them into the elevator.

"With a zat, if you need'em alive," Sam suggested.

"Why would you need a _Goa'uld_ alive?" Martouf scoffed.

"We can't _get_ to any of the Ba'al's. They've holed up, and they've got hostages," Hailey told him.

"We're missing all the action," Sam grumbled.

The elevator pinged, as it arrived at their destination, and the door opened.

"Now, _move_!" Hailey ordered.

* * *

Hailey and Sokolf had only just gotten to the top floor with the children, when they received word that the situation had been resolved - even if not quite in the way they would have hoped.

The many Ba'al's had escaped! Not only that, but they had managed to download a copy of the list of planets the SGC had gotten from the Ancient database. Each of the Ba'al's were implanted with a transponder device, and together this gave a signal strong enough for an outside source to lock onto them - and they were beamed out from Stargate Command.

Ba'al's daring plan had worked, and the SGC were no longer the only ones with a list of names of planets, which might contain the Ancient weapon they were looking for. A list which Ba'al felt he would be able to narrow down.

The question was - would he find the weapon first, or would Stargate Command?

* * *

"You know what you need? You need _us_ to look at that list!" Daniel insisted.

"We've got our best people on it, don't worry," Hailey said. "Sokolf is in charge of the project - and we've also got Vala looking at it. They have some ideas, so I have hope that they will figure it out."

"You know, you'd have _already_ figured it out if _I_ was in your group!" Daniel grumbled.


	21. Chapter 21

Some time passed, without anyone hearing more to Ba'al's search for the Ancient weapon. The Tok'ra had placed as many agents as they could, and the Free Jaffa were on the lookout as well, so at least they were almost certain Ba'al had not found the Ancient weapon yet.

Besides, it was a fair bet that everyone in the Galaxy would know, as soon as he did. It was not something he would keep secret.

Meanwhile, the Ori forces kept advancing, conquering world after world. It was not going well for Stargate Command and their friends and allies.

After some of the Free Jaffa had used the weapon at Dakara to kill 100000 Ori believers, the leader of the Ori, Adria, had attacked Dakara. The weapon, the temple, as well as every structure on the planet, had been destroyed. That meant the Free Jaffa had lost the planet that had become a symbol of their movement.

During all this, SG-1 kept searching for Merlin's weapon - the Sangraal.

* * *

It was late November, and the Ori forces still showed no signs of slowing their advance. Earth and the Tok'ra had been fairly unaffected, but the same could not be said for the Jaffa, who were taking heavy casualties.

The alliance with the Jaffa was not going well, with many of the Jaffa having converted to Origin - the religion preached by the Ori Priors.

Through all of this, O'Neill, Teal'c, and Janet/Rhiva were making sure the children did not hear _too_ much about what happened, so they did not worry excessively. Being not-quite normal children, since they _did_ have the memories of their adult selves, it was impossible to keep _all_ that happened from them, but at least they did not know _how_ bad the war was going.

Any holiday celebrations that year would probably again be minimal, given that SG-1 was on active duty most of the time, and the same was the case for Janet/Rhiva, and for O'Neill, in Washington.

However, Jacob/Selmak had suggested the children celebrate Christmas in the Tok'ra tunnels that year, and that the Tok'ra handle most of it. Of course, the Tok'ra were participating very actively against the Ori, and also checking that no new Goa'uld popped up, but there were always someone home at the base, and they were willing to celebrate with the children. Many of them even found the idea fun.

* * *

"When are we leaving for the Tok'ra base?" Daniel asked. "I haven't even _packed_ yet!"

"In a little over two weeks," Janet told him. "Relax - you've got plenty of time."

"But... but we need to buy _gifts_... or make gifts... and we need to get cookies and candy, and..." Daniel sounded close to panic.

"The Tok'ra are taking care of everything - and you don't need to get gifts for anyone, honey," Janet reassured him.

"But I _want_ to get gifts for Jack, and Teal'c, and, and... you and Rhiva..." Daniel grumbled in a low voice. "And I have favourite cookies and candy... maybe they don't _make_ those there!"

Sam hugged him. "We'll find something for them together - _and_ make candy. And cookies."

Janet waved at them. "Have a good day in school, kids!" She left the room.

"We all want to give them something... Samantha, you and Daniel still have ac-cess to your bank accounts, right?" Martouf asked.

Sam nodded. "We do. I think they're even still paying us, because of... some-thing with bu- _reau-_ cracy I didn't understand. We're never using any money, so we got lots."

Martouf nodded. "Good."

"I want to give them something too! And so does Anise," Freya said. "But how? I doubt anyone has the time to take us to the city to shop!"

"Teal'c might, if we ask him," Sam suggested. "Or we could buy it online. We've done it before."

"They've put better blocks on our internet... I don't think we can get to many pages at all." Martouf looked unhappy.

"We can _hack_ that, _duh_!" Sam insisted. "It's easy, I'm sure."

"Help! Look at the time! There is less than five minutes before class starts!" Freya exclaimed.

"Oh, no. We better get going!" Sam agreed.

They hurried out the door and ran for the elevator. If they were lucky, and there was no wait, they _might_ get there in time!

* * *

"Fixed!" Sam said, proudly.

"We now have un-blocked ac-cess to buy stuff on the internet?" Martouf asked.

"To _anything_ you might wanna look at. _Any_ site!" Sam boasted.

" _Awesome_!" Martouf exclaimed, impressed.

"Who do we get gifts for first?" Freya wondered.

"Jack," Daniel said. "He wants more Simpsons DVD's, I'm sure."

"What seasons does he have?" Sam asked.

"One, and two... I think." Daniel looked thoughtful.

"Also three. And I think he has four, as well," Martouf pointed out.

Sam nodded. "He definitely has those. Also maybe five, because I think Teal'c bought that one."

"Then we should get him season six," Freya decided. "And we should also make him something personal - we should make _all_ of them something personal."

"Like, what?" Daniel wondered.

"Paintings?" Sam suggested.

"No, that's a crappy gift," Daniel insisted. "Maybe ce- _ramics_. Copies of artifacts!"

"O'Neill would hate that," Martouf said, with confidence.

"Okay, so we give him something else. But I think Janet would like it," Daniel decided.

"We need to buy candles for Teal'c - for meditating," Sam said.

"He doesn't need to kel'no'reem any more," Freya reminded them.

"No, but he still _likes_ to meditate," Sam insisted.

"Okay. Candles. And then we can make him candleholders in clay," Daniel said.

"Rhiva likes renaissance music." Sam suddenly remembered.

"Right. So a CD for her," Freya agreed.

"Wait... stop! I need to write all this down!" Martouf said, running to get a pad of paper and a pen. "Okay. Repeat everything!"

The children continued making lists of things they thought would make good Christmas gifts - and then went online to order what they needed.

"We need to talk to Teal'c - and make sure he brings us the stuff when it arrives. He'll understand!" Sam insisted.

* * *

"What's that supposed to be?" Lantash wondered, indicating the lump of clay Daniel was trying to shape.

"That's a Minoan vase for Janet," Daniel insisted. "It's just not completely finished yet."

"That's _never_ going to be a vase! Mino-an or other-wise!" Sam said.

"It's the stupid clay! It keeps col-lapsing. I know how the vase _should_ look! This crap just doesn't want to co-operate!" Daniel mashed the failed vase together and threw it across the room. It landed on the door and got stuck there.

"Let me do the vase, then you can do the candleholder," Lantash suggested. "I _know_ how to work with clay."

"Yeah, _right_!" Daniel scoffed.

"No, I _do_ know!" Lantash said, getting irritated. "My former host. Nemura. He had learned to work with clay!"

"Okay - whatever. You do it then. I don't want to do this anymore." Daniel left to wash his hands in the bathroom. He then went over to the television and turned it on, finding a cartoon to watch.

"You better pick the clay off the door first!" Sam said.

"It's the _vase_. Lantash wanted to make it. He can pick it off the door," Daniel insisted.

"Weren't you going to make a candle holder?" Freya asked.

"No. The clay hates me," Daniel said, sounding cross.

"I'm _not_ picking up after him!" Lantash exclaimed, angrily. He got up to go argue with Daniel - or maybe fight with him.

"No. Just leave him alone," Sam insisted, grabbing hold of Lantash's arm. "Let's go get that clay, and then you can show Freya and me how to make a vase?" She smiled sweetly at him.

Lantash looked conflicted for a moment, then nodded. "Okay."


	22. Chapter 22

"There's only a few days left before we leave to go to the Tok'ra base!" Daniel said eagerly. "We should bake some cookies and make Christmas candy!"

"Yeah, we already have Christmas holiday from school, so that's a great idea!" Martouf agreed.

"Okay." Sam shrugged. "I'm in. What kinda cookies?"

"Gingerbread cookies!" Daniel insisted. "And shortbread cookies... and, um, and chocolate chip cookies?"

"You're forgetting coconut macaroons!" Sam said.

"That is lots of cookies! How can we even get the in-gredients?" Freya asked.

"We ask Teal'c or Janet to take us to a store," Martouf suggested.

"But it's supposed to be a _secret_ that we're making them!" Sam argued.

"True," Martouf admitted. "But we also need to use a kitchen somewhere. Who can we ask?"

"Cassie!" Sam grinned. "She'll be home for Christmas, she told me! She'll also help us get the in-gredients, and let us use Janet and Rhiva's kitchen while they're not there! I'm sure of it!"

"Oh, we need a gift for her!" Freya exclaimed, horrified they had forgotten.

"Quickly! What do we get her?" Martouf asked.

"A scarf like the one we gave Janet... _sometime_ ," Daniel suggested. "I know Cassie wants one. She said she _really_ liked it."

"Okay. Let's order one of those, have it sent _fast_ , and then make a list of what we need for the cookies," Sam said.

"You're forgetting the candy! We want to make candy too!" Martouf reminded her.

"Right. What kinds of candy?" Sam grabbed a pad of paper and a pen.

"Marshmallows," Freya immediately suggested.

"Candy canes," Daniel said.

"Caramel - and Lantash wants licorice," Martouf added.

"I'm not sure we can make those kinds of candy ourselves." Sam frowned. "Let's check online!"

* * *

The children had called Cassandra, and she had quickly agreed to help them with their plan. The next day she drove Janet/Rhiva to work at Stargate Command, then left to buy the ingredients they had asked her to.

It was just after noon, when she returned to Stargate Command. She had a surprise for the children - she had talked to one of the cooks working in the kitchen at Stargate Command, whom she knew her well from when she had come her as a little girl, and the cook had happily agreed to let the children bake cookies and make candy in the smaller extra kitchen. That was only used during times when extra many people were at the base - for instance if they were housing refugees. Right now it was holiday season, and there were even fewer people here than otherwise, so the extra kitchen would not be used.

"We're allowed to bake cookies here?" Sam asked.

"Yes, Donna here is the one in charge, and she says you can use it." Cassandra indicated the cook, who smiled at them.

"Absolutely, kids - and we've got lots of pots and pans - and cookie cutters and tins - that you can borrow."

"Woaw! Thank you so much!" Martouf said, happily.

"Sure thing." Donna looked at Cassandra. "Just call me if you need anything, okay?"

"We will, but I think we're good. Thanks!" Cassandra turned to the children. "Just remember - don't make too much of a mess. You have to clean up after yourself!"

"Of course!" Daniel promised.

"We'll call you when we're finished," Sam said.

Cassandra shook her head. "No, I'm staying here. It can be dangerous to make cookies - the oven gets very hot, and there's some machinery in here that you can hurt yourself on. I'm staying here with you... as for the candy? Well, you are going to cook caramel, and I'm _not_ letting you do that on your own! Janet would kill me!"

* * *

"Look at all the pretty gingerbread men!" Anise exclaimed. "Do you want me to decorate them?"

"Not yet, Anise," Cassandra said. "They're too hot. If you put icing on them now, it'll just melt and run away."

"Oh." Anise looked unhappy, then blew on one of the cookies, hoping to cool it that way. She carefully touched it. "Ow!"

Cassandra sighed. "Yup, they're hot. _Leave them alone_! Okay? Let me put them on the rack, so they can cool, then you guys can start a new batch."

"Can I start making caramel?" Martouf asked, eagerly. "Please?"

"And can we have several kinds of caramel? Chocolate, with nuts, lemon..." Sam pleaded.

"We found a re-cipe for marsh-mallows. We _must_ make some!" Daniel insisted.

"I agree. I will help you while the cookies cool," Anise said.

"Don't forget the other cookies you have!" Cassandra told them. "You've got three kinds of dough mixed, that are just waiting to be rolled out and cut into cookies!"

"Ooh, I forgot about that!" Daniel said, looking unhappy.

"I can make some of the cookies, I suppose..." Sam said, looking with concern at the large portions of dough waiting to be rolled out.

"Don't worry, I'll help you roll it out, then you can punch out the cookies," Cassandra offered.

"Thanks." Sam looked at her, relieved.

"Great, then I'll get started on the marsh-mallows!" Daniel said, happily.

"Can I begin making caramel?" Martouf begged.

"You can begin finding all the ingredients and pots and stuff, but I need to supervise it when you cook it - it's going to get _very_ hot," Cassandra said.

"Okay." Martouf ran off to find out what he needed for the caramel.

* * *

"Can I help you with the marsh-mallows, Daniel?" Anise asked.

"Sure, of course!" He smiled at her. "This is the list of in- _gre_ -dients."

"Yield... 100 pieces. That is far _far_ too few!" Anise exclaimed. "We are bringing them with us to the Tok'ra base, right? We need _ten_ times as many, or each person will only get a few!"

"I agree," Daniel said. "Do you think ten times as many is enough? I can _easily_ eat 100 myself!"

Anise looked speculative. "Hmmm... well, maybe not everyone want to have very many... but we should still mul-tiply by twenty instead, I think."

"Okay. I'll find pen and paper, and we'll get that cal-cu-lated!" He ran out of the kitchen and into the room beside it, where they had left some of their stuff. He returned quickly. "Here."

Anise nodded. "Thank you... see, the recipe says 1 cup of sugar... so we need twenty cups of sugar. Then... 2 times 20... that equals 40 tablespoons... of glu-cose syrup..."

"Okay, I have that!" Daniel said. "What do I do with it?"

"Put it in a saucepan with a thick bottom... a large one, I guess."

Daniel rummaged around and found a _huge_ pot. "Done."

"Add water... it says ¼ cup... so we need... hmm... 5 cups of water."

"And then I just heat it, right?" Daniel asked.

"Wait... wait!" Cassandra exclaimed, running to where they were working. "You must be very careful with that - sugar gets scalding hot!"

"We _are_ careful!" Daniel and Anise said at the same time.

Cassandra sighed, noticing how much sugar they had in the pot. "Isn't that an _enormous_ portion?"

"Not if we are to make enough for everyone!" Anise insisted.

Cassandra groaned, then shook her head. "Oh well, I guess you already mixed up the water and sugar, so you can just as well use it." She went back to check on what Sam and Martouf were doing.

"Great! Thanks!" Daniel looked relieved. He turned to Anise. "What's next on the re-cipe, Anise?"

"We should cook the stuff until it reaches 210 degrees Fahren-heit. Then put... um..." Anise mumbled in a low voice, "7 times 20... that equals 140..." She continued in a normal tone of voice. "Yes, 140 leaves of un-flavoured ge-latin in water, and let it soak. Then pour away the water and melt the ge-latin."

"That sounds like a _lot_ of gelatin!" Daniel said.

"It _is_ a large portion," Anise reasoned.

Daniel shrugged. "True. What do I add next?"

"Let the stuff in the pot cook until it reaches about 240 degrees Fahren-heit. While it cooks... whisk together egg whites and pow-dered sugar."

"How much? You didn't mention egg whites and pow-dered sugar before!"

"Sorry. Hmm... they say 3 egg whites, so we should use..." Anise calculated it on the paper. "60 egg whites."

"Wow, I hope they've got enough!" Daniel went to the refrigerator and looked. "Okay, I think there's enough. _Just_." He took out the boxes and carried them to the table, where he began working.

"You mix it with..." Anise sighed. "2 times 20... that is... 40 tablespoons of pow-dered sugar."

"Okay," Daniel said, after some time. "What then?"

"We check the temperature of the gooey stuff in the pot," Anise told him.

"I'll do that," Cassandra said, hurriedly. She checked with a thermometer. "242 degrees."

"Whoa! That's too much! Do we start over, then?" Anise asked, scared.

"No, I think it's close enough." Cassandra smiled at them.

"Cassie? I've cut out all the cookies! Can you roll out more dough?" Sam called out.

"Yes, coming, sweetie!" Cassandra sighed, and ran to help Sam, throwing one more look at Daniel and Anise. "Careful, okay?"

"Cassie? Can you help me afterwards?" Lantash called. "I found all I need for the caramel - and several pots, so I can make different tastes."

"In a moment, honey!" Cassandra said, close to regretting she had promised helping them with this.

* * *

"I poured the sugar-goop into the egg-mix... and added the ge-latin. What now?" Daniel wondered.

"Keep whisking until it cools and becomes harder... and shiny," Anise read aloud.

"But my arm hurts!" Daniel complained. "It's your turn to whisk it!"

Anise nodded slowly. "Okay."

Daniel jumped down from the chair he was standing on, and Anise climbed up instead. She took hold of the eggbeater and started whisking. "It's heavy work!" Anise complained.

Cassandra noticed what they were doing. "Sweetheart! Why don't you use the electric mixer!"

"There's an _electric_ mixer?" Daniel exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I didn't notice - I'm helping all of you at the same time, right?" Cassandra pointed out.

"Yeah, okay..." Daniel grumbled.

Cassandra set up the electric mixer to run on slow speed. "Now - just keep an eye on it, okay?"

"The marsh-mallows are almost finished." Anise said. "That's good!"

"Yes, but my arms hurt! You'll have to do the rest!" Daniel insisted, unhappily.

"I cannot do all that on my own!" Anise exclaimed. "We need to mix potato flour and powdered sugar and put in a pan, then take the marsh-mallow mixture and pour into a..." She looked at the word again. "Pi-ping bag? Is that a word?"

"I think it's used to decorate cakes - or push some other goop out in thin or thicker lines," Daniel explained, helpfully.

"Hm. So we use that to make thick bars that are rolled in the pan with sugar/flour mix. Let cool, then cut to cubes and roll in sugar/flour mix," Anise said, reading the recipe.

"That sounds like an awful lot of work! Why didn't we just _buy_ all the candy? I'm sure it's gonna taste bad also!" Daniel exclaimed, getting a dispirited expression.

"Why are you so negative?" Anise complained.

"Sore arms. They'll do that to you." Daniel lay down on the floor.

Anise shook her head, then turned to the others. "Can anyone else help me? Please?"


	23. Chapter 23

The cookies and candy had ended up being very good, and when Daniel's arms no longer hurt, he was more than happy - and very proud - of what they had all managed to do together.

They had made very large portions of candy and cookies, so there would be a lot to bring to the Tok'ra base.

"Do they have any Christmas decorations?" Sam suddenly asked Janet, looking worried.

"I don't know, but I'm going to assume Jacob will have made sure there's a Christmas tree, at least, and probably some decorations on it," Janet assured her.

" _Probably_?" Daniel looked horrified. "He'll _probably_ have decorations for the tree? What if he doesn't? And what about the rest of the place?"

"We can't have Christmas with no decorations!" Sam insisted, suddenly remembering that her father had never cared much for that part.

"It _is_ pretty." Martouf agreed. "But why is it that im-portant? We'll have gifts, candy, cookies, and deli-cious food. Isn't that more im-portant?"

"I agree, Martouf... but decorations are fun and pretty. We should bring some - just to make sure there are enough," Anise decided.

"We're leaving tomorrow morning! We need to go shopping _now_!" Sam exclaimed.

"Teal'c is on mission with SG-1, and I don't have time to take you shopping right now," Janet said, looking apologetic. She suddenly smiled, getting an idea. "You know what? You can make some decorations yourself! I think there's materials you can use in one of the storage closets." She checked her watch. "Let's go see... I have about 30 minutes before I have to be on duty."

* * *

They had found all they needed, to make a great many kinds of Christmas decorations, and Janet even had an old book with descriptions and patterns to follow, so the children were soon sitting around a large table, making ornaments.

They were making decorations both for hanging on the Christmas tree, and for putting up here and there in the Tok'ra tunnels.

The first type of ornaments they did, were made out of salt dough, which they rolled out fairly thin, and then cut out with pastry cutters. When the dough dried, it could be painted. The simplest way to dry it quickly, was to put it in a microwave for 2-3 minutes, but since they needed to ask for permission to use one, they just set the decorations aside until later.

"I am going to paint mine, and then I will sprinkle them with glitter! They will be _so_ pretty!" Freya said, happily.

"Glitter... you know what we could do with that? We could put glitter on pine cones and hang them. Don't you think that would be cool?" Sam suggested.

"We have those pine cones I collected when we were out walking on the mountain with Teal'c... some weeks ago," Daniel said. "We could use those."

"Okay! Go get them, then!" Sam insisted, eagerly.

Daniel nodded. "Yes. Will someone help me carry them? I've got them in two boxes, spread out so they could dry."

"I will help you," Freya said, getting up from the table.

They left quickly, eager to get started on the project.

"How are you going to get the glitter to stick to the pine cones?" Lantash wondered.

"I'll put glue on them with a paintbrush, and then just sprinkle the glitter over them - and glue satin ribbons to the top to hang them. Janet and me did it together with Cassie, when she was little."

Lantash nodded. "That sounds like it could work."

Soon Daniel and Freya/Anise returned with the pine cones, and the children started decorating them as Sam had suggested.

* * *

The next thing they made were paper cones, for hanging on the tree.

They were a quick and easy ornament to do - all that needed doing was making a circle by cutting from scraps of gift wrapping paper, remove roughly a quarter, and then glue the remaining part of the circle together, with the ends overlapping a bit. The children then attached ribbons to hang them.

Janet had plenty of larger and smaller pieces of gift wrapping paper, which she had saved, and which were too small for wrapping anything in, but it made for colourful and diverse paper cones.

The scraps that were too small for that, Sam and Martouf cut into rectangular pieces, folded in half, and glued together around a long piece of thread. It looked like a line of flags, and could be used as a festive garland on the tree.

While Sam and Martouf/Lantash were making that, Freya/Anise and Daniel were cutting paper strips, then gluing them together as interlocking rings. That way they made a very long garland, they hoped to convince Garshaw to let them hang criss-cross along the roof in the room they were celebrating Christmas in.

* * *

"I think we have enough garlands now, don't you think?" Daniel asked, when they had worked on it for more than two hours, with only a couple short breaks.

"I agree... and I am getting hungry!" Martouf said.

"We should take a lunch-break, then," Anise agreed.

"Yes... how long is the garland?" Sam asked, stopping what she was doing.

"At _least_ a mile... I _think_..." Daniel insisted.

"I do not believe so... perhaps _half_ a mile," Anise said, eyeing the garland they had just made, skeptically.

"Let's measure it!" Martouf forgot for a moment that he was hungry, and grabbed the ruler lying on the table. "Where is the end of the garland?"

"Here." Daniel handed it to him.

Martouf started the measuring, painstakingly moving the garland along the ruler, section by section. "1... 2... 3..."

"How long is the ruler?" Anise asked.

"Don't interrupt me!" Martouf said.

"12 inches," Sam told her.

"How many times 12 inches do you need to get a mile?" Daniel wondered.

"Not sure." Sam grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, and started scribbling. "Hm... one foot is 12 inches... there's 3 feet in one yard... or is it 4 feet? Let's say 3... anyone know how many yards in a mile?"

"No." Anise shook her head.

"... 25... 26... 27..." Martouf continued counting, sending the others an irritated look for interrupting him.

"I _think_ there's 1760 yards in a mile," Daniel said.

"Okay, then a mile is... 63300 inches!" Sam proclaimed, triumphantly.

"You need to divide it by 12," Anise reminded her.

"Why? Oh, to get how many sections of garland Martouf must measure... _if_ there's a mile of garland. I only think there's ¼ of a mile!" Sam said, scribbling some more on the paper. "5275!"

"... 33... 34... 35..." Martouf said, counting patiently, now and then sending them annoyed looks.

Anise suddenly made a long blink, giving Freya control.

"We need something glittery to put on the Christmas tree! I just remembered... we had that last year... and the year before!"

Sam nodded slowly. "Right. Lametta tinsel. Long thin metal strands. I don't know how to make that."

"We get some tin foil from the kitchen and shred it?" Daniel suggested.

"Not a bad idea," Sam admitted. "Okay... let's go ask!"

Sam, Daniel, and Freya ran off, leaving Martouf to keep measuring up the paper-ring garland.

He glared briefly after them, then returned to his work, getting a long-suffering expression. His stomach growled.

* * *

"We got it!" Sam exclaimed, as they entered the room again. "Both thick and thin foil!"

"... 56... 57... 58..." Martouf counted out loud, trying to catch the attention of the others.

"It doesn't look like there's more than... like, the same amount of garland left... maybe even less..." Sam remarked, thoughtfully.

Martouf looked up. "Could someone please take over? This isn't funny anymore! And when are we going to get something to eat?"

Sam nodded, graciously. "I'll continue... and then we can go eat when we know how long the garland is."

"Thanks." Martouf looked relieved.

"You can help us cut the thick foil into shapes... stars, trees, bells, whatever!" Daniel said, eagerly.

"Okay," Martouf agreed. He sighed, but joined the others.

"How do we make the thin metal strands? They are so pretty!" Freya said. "We _really_ need to do that!"

Martouf wrinkled his brow as he thought, then suddenly smiled. "Lantash suggests we use a paper shredder to shred the thin tin foil! I know where there is one!"

"Great idea!" Daniel exclaimed. "Let's go do that first!"

"Wait! I'm coming with you! I've finished counting the garland - there's 83 times 12 inches... that's 996 inches. That's... like 1% of a mile, or something!"

"But... it looks like there's so _much_ of it! How can it only be so little?" Daniel looked unhappy.

"I think there's enough to hang it a couple times across the roof - it'll be fine," Martouf assured him.

"Come - let's go find the shredder?" Sam grabbed the foil, and they all ran off.


	24. Chapter 24

* * *

The children were just running the last sheet of foil through the shredder, when the door opened and Harriman entered.

"What are you _doing_ in here?" He demanded. " _Why_ have you emptied all the shredded paper out on the floor?"

The children all turned to look at him, with guilty expressions on their faces.

"We're making tinsel," Sam explained.

"We didn't want to get it all mixed up with paper, so we took out the paper first." Martouf continued.

"But we were _totally_ going to clean up after ourselves, and put _all_ the shredded paper back in the shredder!" Daniel promised.

"Or we can put it in the paper bin now," Anise said, grabbing a large armful of the stuff and carrying it over to the paper bin. Pieces of shredded paper fell all over the place, and when she tried stuffing it into the wastebasket, only some of it actually stayed in it - much of it spilled out over the sides. "Oops, sorry."

"I'll help!" Martouf ran over and began to pick up the paper strips. Every time he had picked up a few, some of them would slip from his fingers, and he had to pick them up again.

Harriman sighed deeply. "I think I better go get a broom, then we can clean this mess up together."

"Afterwards, will you unlock the door to the small rec room? We need to use the microwave..." Sam begged.

Harriman just sighed deeper. He could feel this was going to be a long day.

* * *

"You sure got a lot of stuff you wanna bring," O'Neill observed, as the children kept bringing bags and boxes over to the already fairly big mountain of luggage.

"It's just the essentials!" Sam said. "A few gifts..." she dumped an armful on the floor.

"Cookies." Lantash put down a large crate, so big that he could only _just_ carry it.

"Candy." Daniel smiled, as he staggered into the room, carrying two large bags.

"And Christmas decorations!" Freya told them, happily, as she placed a large box on the floor.

"This is only some of it, of course," Sam said. "We'll be back with _more_."

"Teal'c? Is Ishta coming? And Rya'c and Kar'yn?" Daniel asked.

"No, I regret to say that they do not yet feel comfortable enough around the Tok'ra to participate in a celebration on a Tok'ra base," Teal'c said.

"Oh, no! What then? Will you go to them instead of cele-brating with us?" Lantash wanted to know.

"No, I will take part in your Christmas festivities."

"But then you will not be with your family and loved ones for Christmas!" Daniel said.

"Jaffa do not celebrate Christmas, so it is of no importance. Besides, I will go to spend part of my time off with them, after this celebration has concluded."

Daniel nodded, not looking convinced that Teal'c was not suffering in some way. He turned to O'Neill. "What about Leira and, uh, little Jack?"

"Unfortunately, they're also not feeling comfortable around Tok'ra. Sorry guys!" O'Neill said, giving Lantash and Freya apologetic looks. "I'll stay with you for a few days, then go spend some time with Leira and junior... that's Jack junior." He looked at Teal'c.

"And since Edorans also do not celebrate Christmas, it's not a problem. I understand," Sam nodded.

"Tok'ra don't celebrate Christmas either. Normally. But it's still nice to get gifts... and candy..." Lantash pointed out.

"Candy and gifts!" Sam exclaimed.

"And cookies and deco-rations!" Freya added.

"We need to go get the rest!" Lantash insisted.

O'Neill shook his head, and looked at Janet and Teal'c, as the children ran off to get more stuff. "I've got a backpack with my own things, and a couple bags with gifts - and I thought _I_ was the one bringing a lot of stuff!"

Janet grinned. "I know. They've been busy."

"Do you have the, ah... _special_ gift?" Teal'c asked.

"It's waiting in Hailey's lab. She's guarding it until we're leaving. I couldn't exactly wrap it up, now, could I?" O'Neill smiled, widely. "By the way. Where's Cassie?"

"She should be here in half an hour. She had some stuff she needed to take care off," Janet explained.

* * *

"Hi, kids! Hi, Jack, Teal'c... Janet, Rhiva... holy Hannah! Are you bringing everything from the whole _base_?" Jacob said, seeing how much they were all carrying.

"Hi, dad! Hi, Selmak!" Sam greeted.

"Hello, Jacob and Selmak," Martouf said, then continued enthusiastically. "We are bringing gifts, and candy, and cookies, and, and..."

"And decorations!" Anise squealed. "Hello, Jacob and Selmak!"

Daniel grinned widely and put down the box he was carrying. "Hi, Jacob! And Selmak!" He waved at them, before bending to pick up the box again.

"Candy and cookies? And _decorations_?" Jacob asked. "You know, we _do_ have some cookies and other stuff made already. The cooks have been really nice - and very busy."

"Yeah, the kids were worried you hadn't been able to get enough. There's even more stuff than what we're carrying. Do you think you could get some people to help?" O'Neill asked, a bit sheepishly.

"Hi, Malek!" Janet said, spotting the Tok'ra walking up from behind Jacob. "It's good to see you."

"Hello, Janet. We have missed you and Rhiva." He smiled at her, looking very pleased to see her.

Janet smiled at him, then her smile suddenly widened, and become somewhat mischievous. "Rhiva suggests that we do this!" She threw her arms around Malek, and pulled him in for a hug, and then a kiss, before letting go.

Malek looked at her, surprised, then smiled again. "I believe this will be a very good, ah, _Christmas_."

"So do I." Janet grinned at his reaction. She turned to look at the others, who were staring at them, expressions of surprise, but happiness, on their faces. "Can't a girl say a decent hello to a friend?" She laughed. "So, are you coming, guys?"

* * *

With the help of several Tok'ra, they had finally managed to get their luggage, as well as all the gifts, ornaments, and goodies transported down into the Tok'ra tunnels.

"Where do you have the tree?" Daniel asked.

"The _Christmas_ tree!" Sam elaborated quickly.

"I know what tree you mean!" Jacob rolled his eyes. "And don't worry, I _have_ managed to get one. A nice one, even. I'm sure you'll like it. Since this is a very small base, we've grown a party room just to celebrate in, and the tree is in there."

"That's _awesome_!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Can we go see it immediately?" Martouf pleaded.

Jacob shrugged, secretly happy with the children's enthusiasm. "Why not?"

"Have you decorated it?" Anise wanted to know.

"Well, yes... somewhat. Aldwin got some candles, and he and Garshaw made holders for them out of wire, so the tree has lights, at least."

Sam nodded. "That's good. What about a star?"

"Not sure... ah, probably not," Jacob admitted.

"We _need_ one!" Daniel insisted, as they walked into the room. "You can't have a Christmas tree without a shining star at the top!"

"I can have one grown from crystals, but it will take longer if it needs to be able to light up," Aldwin said, hearing what they were discussing.

"A crystal star would be great!" Sam smiled happily.

"Yeah, and it's not supposed to light up, so that's a great idea!" Jacob agreed.

"The tree is fine, but there's _no_ ornaments on it except for the candles!" Daniel complained.

"And no decorations in the room, _anywhere_!" Sam said. "It's Christmas tomorrow!"

"We usually decorate with flowers and leaves if it's a big celebration," Martouf explained. "I would assume someone will do that."

"Flowers!" Daniel snorted. "It's not a spring ball! It's a good thing _we_ _'_ _ve_ got a lot of ornaments!"

"Yes, we need to start decorating!" Sam insisted.

"Don't you want some lunch first?" Jacob grinned at their enthusiasm. "The cook has made your favourite sandwiches!"

"Really?" Sam asked.

"That's very nice of him!" Daniel exclaimed, his eyes shining.

"Lunch first, then!" Martouf said, and the other children agreed.

* * *

"Wow! It looks _so_ pretty!" Sam exclaimed, looking at the room, that was now decorated with not only the ornaments the children had brought, but also garlands made of flowers and leaves.

It might be a little nontraditional as Christmas decorations went, but it actually looked good. The Christmas tree stood in the middle, decked out with candles, and the garlands and other ornaments the children had made. At the top sat a very beautiful crystal star, which Aldwin had made the day before.

"It is very beautiful," Martouf agreed.

"Especially the garlands we made," Daniel insisted. "But also the other stuff."

"And the tinsel," Anise added. "I like that very much."

"Ho, ho, ho, are there any nice children in here?" Jacob said, as he entered the room, dressed in a Santa costume and carrying a large sack of presents.

"I think they're all nice, don't you?" O'Neill asked. "Well, most of the time, anyway..." He grinned.

O'Neill, Janet, Teal'c, Cassandra, and Malek also wore Santa hats, but not the rest of the costume. They were pretending to be Santa's elves.

"I'm sure they are. Why don't you give them _your_ gift immediately?" Janet said.

"What is it?" Daniel asked, eagerly.

O'Neill had been standing in the doorway, but now he turned to talk to someone just outside, who handed him something - something that made small sounds.

"Here you go!"

"A puppy!" Martouf exclaimed, happily, giving Lantash control.

"I've wanted one for _so_ long!"

"Yes!" Sam said, smiling.

"It's for all of us, right?" Daniel asked.

"Can I pet it?" Anise wondered.

"Of course... and yes, it's for all of you. It's like I told Cassie - we have a rule on Earth. Every kid has got to have a dog... though in this case you get to share her." O'Neill smiled, and behind him, Cassandra grinned, remembering when he had given _her_ a dog, years ago.

"She is _adorable_!" Lantash said, looking very happy.

"What's her name?" Sam wondered, not taking her eyes off the dog.

"You get to name her... try to agree on something nice," O'Neill told them, as he put the puppy down on the floor. It walked over to the nearest child - which was Anise - and sniffed her.

"Nefertari, perhaps?" Anise suggested. "It means 'most beautiful' in Goa'uld." She kneeled beside the dog, and petted it carefully. It licked her hand.

"She's from Earth, she shouldn't have a Goa'uld name, I think," Lantash said, also kneeling down beside the dog and gently ruffling its fur. It made small, satisfied sounds.

"Bonnie, then? It's a fairly common dog's name, and it means beautiful in Scottish - well, I _think_ it does," Daniel suggested, studying the dog.

Sam shrugged. "Fine with me." She stroked the fur on the back of the dog.

Lantash thought it over, and discussed it with Martouf. "We both agree 'Bonnie' is an acceptable name."

"Hi, Bonnie!" Anise said, giving the dog a hug. "Do you like your new name?"

"I think she does." Janet smiled.

It was a long time before the children had time to focus much on their other gifts, though eventually they happily unwrapped those as well - and their new pet gleefully assisted them in tearing up the paper and spreading it all over the room!

It was a wonderful Christmas for them all!

* * *

MERRY CHRISTMAS / HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

* * *

A/N: The children's dog are named for the cute and fun dog Bonnie I played with as a child.


End file.
